Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Annabeth
by maxride45
Summary: What would Athena do to keep her daughter away from a Seaweed Brain like Percy? Anything. Can Annabeth survive as a captive? Can Percy save her-and find the intelligence he's had all along?
1. Chapter 1

"**The hottest love has the coldest end."**

**~Socrates~**

**BC 469-399, Greek Philosopher of Athens**

**1**

Should I tell her? This had been such a touchy subject since she'd kissed me under Mt. St. Helens… we barely talked about liking each other, but… surely she had to be thinking the same thing, right? That we needed to talk about this… that it wasn't over…

I sat on the beach, waiting. I'd left her a note under her pillow-I'd snuck into the Athena cabin on the way back from grabbing Riptide for class-I'd "forgotten" my sword. (I needed to get to the Athena cabin when no one was there.)

The note had started and ended sweetly, but she just left me at a loss for words, so my super-long rambling had turned into:

_Annabeth-_

_Meet me on the beach as soon as your whole cabin is asleep. The harpies will be distracted-trust me._

_-Seaweed Brain_

I was wearing my favorite jeans and a bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt… I was not good with clothes. I'd made the mistake of telling Tyson about tonight-but who else would be able to distract the harpies?-and he'd told the Stoll brothers… eventually it got around to Silena Beauregard. So I'd been shuffled to the Aphrodite cabin at arrow-point, and they'd tried to smooth out my hair and all sorts of other junk… but I threw a fake snake on the floor and they screamed and scattered, so I got out of there pretty quickly. I thought Silena might be stalking me though. I'd gone to take a shower, just in case they'd put ANYTHING in my hair. They had.

I looked out at the ocean to calm my heartbeat and sighed. The ocean was breathtakingly beautiful, but I'd seen prettier.

That was when I heard the quiet shuffling of footsteps behind me-it had to be Annabeth. Tyson was playing fetch with harpies to keep them away. I turned around and there she was, as beautiful as ever-though she didn't know it, and I'd never had the guts to tell her.

"Hey Seaweed Brain," she said casually, sitting next to me on the sand. She wore jeans and a dark blue t-shirt that read something like "Demigod Official" in silver letters. The dark background with light letters was good for dyslexia, so I'm pretty sure that's what it said.

"Hey," I said, realizing how lame that sounded. I also realized we were leaning towards each other, unintentionally. I thought and realized we did that a lot-I'd never noticed, really.

"So what's up?" she asked, bewilderment in her perfect gray eyes. Oh yeah, she didn't know why she was here.

"I just felt like I really needed to talk to you… alone. I just…" I hadn't thought about what I was going to say. I was amazed I'd gotten this far. She looked into my eyes and some sort of understanding passed through us-I loved how she knew what I was thinking.

"I don't know where to start, either," she began. "But I know what you're trying to say."

I realized my gaze had shifted to the sand in front of us, then the ocean. There was a moment of silence, both of us looking out at the beach; but it didn't last long. I turned back to her dazzling eyes, and knew what I had to say. I was done with stalling.

"I love you."

She just gazed back into my eyes, and smiled. Smiled uncontrollably. "I love you, too," she said, and I knew I'd made the right choice. She leaned forward, and I leaned simultaneously, slowly. We wanted this to last forever. But I doubted it would-the lives of demigods are just to unpredictable. So it had to last while we had time. And life.

The moment her lips touched mine was like magic, and it seemed to go on forever, yet forever was not long enough. It was really an innocent enough kiss-it was just the level on which we had always been able to connect, already a very deep level, had just been deepened, and we had not even imagined that possible. But here it was, a moment we'd been waiting for forever, and forever was not enough for me. Or her. We just sat on the beach and kissed, and hugged, and when we stopped kissing we sat in silence, gazing out at the ocean. She rested her head on my chest and I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and she wrapped hers around my waist, and we sat like that for another forever that wasn't long enough.

And then thunder crashed, and wind whipped through our hair, and her grip around my waist was not just to be there but for fear, of a storm that had come as suddenly as this night to end a wholly monotonous day. The ocean suddenly churned and I couldn't hear anything over the wind and rain and sea. The beautiful stars darkened and were gone behind clouds. This was bad. Something was wrong. And I had a feeling it had to do with us.

And it did.

Soon Athena, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Ares, and Zeus were in front of us. Zeus looked bored, like he wished he weren't there, like this wasn't his problem and he couldn't believe he'd been dragged into it. Ares looked the same. Aphrodite looked appalled, like someone was threatening her very belief system. Poseidon looked calm, but slightly annoyed. Athena looked absolutely peeved.

"How dare you!!!!" Athena thundered, stomping angrily towards Annabeth and I, but somehow seeming to address Poseidon as well, and maybe Aphrodite. Zeus rolled his eyes. Ares held and angry Aphrodite back. I'd never seen Aphrodite so willing to fight for something.

And I immediately knew what was going on. I pulled Annabeth closer, tighter, and new if I let go, when I let go, it was over. My very reason for living was over. I may as well jump in that ocean and drown-if only I could.

I gazed up at Athena, in anger, defiance, fear, ADHD-inspired confidence, and Dyslexic confusion that just didn't belong. Her eyes blazed with anger-not the way Ares could, but nearly as frighteningly.

"Annabeth, you are coming with me right now," she said, stalking over and grabbing-or trying to grab-Annabeth. But I shielded her and she shied away into my body, avoiding her mother. Defensive instincts took over and I bent my body around her-I would do anything to protect her.

I had flashbacks of a conversation I'd had with her mother once, at a party when I'd danced with Annabeth. Athena had pulled me to the side, to say "I do not approve of your friendship with my daughter." I'd been crushed. I felt like she had ripped my heart out and stomped on it then and there-then sent it through a garbage disposal for good measure.

But, despite my bath in the River Styx, I couldn't shield someone from a god forever. Athena somehow in a flash of movement managed to breakthrough my hold on Annabeth, and before I knew it my face was in the sand and Annabeth was gone out from-nearly-under me.

"Annabeth, you are coming with me-"NO!" I screamed. The gods just stared at me. I stood up rebelliously and gave them a look of horror and hate. Athena shot a glare to match mine. The phrase "if looked could kill" made me turn up the hatred in my gaze. She actually looked worried for a moment, and that amazed me and boosted my confidence. She must have known, because soon her stony gaze turned harder.

"Leave them be, Athena," Poseidon said in a calm voice. His eyes were calm, but powerful, and defiant as mine. He knew she was wrong. Aphrodite spoke up next-fighting for us, fighting for love.

"Athena, I will never speak to you again if you tear these demigods apart."

Athena thought about this. "That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make." Aphrodite gasped and struggled against Ares' hold again. She looked like she was going to rip Athena's head off. Aphrodite had never scared me-until now.

Athena turned away from Aphrodite, away from Poseidon, and stared at me again. "You of all people should care what is best for my daughter. The best future for her does not involve you." With that, she turned and in a flash of light was gone. I jumped at the place she'd been, but they were gone. I just lay on the sand in defeat; the other gods left me alone, except Poseidon. I lay on my stomach in the sand and let myself sink a bit. I felt like dying. I wanted to die. My life had just been taken away from me. "Annabeth," I whispered in defeat. And I'll admit it: I cried.


	2. Chapter 2

**The greatest pain that comes from love**

**is loving someone you can never have.  
**___**~Anonymous~**_

**2**

Why me? Why now? This was the worst night of my life. Being torn away from Percy was the most horrible thing that had ever happened to me. I know I sound like an obsessed teenage girl, exaggerating my life and being a drama queen, but I mean it.

Percy was all I could think about. I was losing my mind. I sat in a big dusty-rose armchair in my mother's palace on Mt. Olympus. Normally this would have been a dream come true-staring out that window over the godly city, and seeing the New York skyline so far below, lights dimming in the morning light. Dawn was coming and I was a prisoner.

It was beautiful. Nothing should be beautiful. Everything should be dead and barren and all architecture should just collapse.

Why?

I rested my head on the window sill, gazing out. Sun beams streamed through and made the white marble of my mother's palace sparkle.

I couldn't deny it was picturesque. Athena's whole palace was white marble, with accents of gold everywhere. I had expected something more practical-but I should have known there would be beautiful architecture. There were magnificent statues everywhere. Big, plushy chairs and couches were placed precisely in every room, with tables of dark wood. Each room had a color as a theme-I was in the pink room. This was where I was to live. She knew I wouldn't be fond of the pink. My favorite color was green… Percy's eyes.

This thought brought the tears again.

I'd had no sleep. I'd sat at this chair gazing out the window all night, crying. My eyes stung, but every time I ran out of tears, more came. The sleeves of my t-shirt were soaked with them; my face was sticky and I tasted the salt.

All I wanted was Percy. I had never wanted anyone or anything more in my entire life.

I silently cried one more time and stared at the white marble. Then I realized how dumb I was being. How could I just sit here? I had no way out, no hope of escape… but I could at least do something.

Just then, I heard footsteps at the entryway to my prison. I buried my face in my sleeve, assuming it was Athena. But the footsteps didn't stop at the door-they came all the way across the room to where I was curled in a disheveled heap of sorrow. I must have looked like I'd fallen overboard on a cruise line.

The footsteps stopped just behind me. I resisted the urge to look up-I would not give her the satisfaction. But a petite hand rested gently on my shoulder… comfortingly. I turned slowly to see Artemis in her silver radiance, gazing down at me with understanding, warm, welcoming eyes. Thalia was right behind her. She smiled at me, but her eyes showed concern. Well, the one eye I could see-the other was obscured by her unruly black hair.

"Annabeth, I still favor you," she began, sitting in a chair next to mine. Thalia stood at her right side. I thought I knew where this was going.

"If you choose to try and escape, you will fail. I have seen it. But there is a way you can at least get out of here. You cannot go back to Percy-the only way you can see him again is if he finds you, and Athena does not know. But… you can escape…" she trailed off. I knew what she meant.

"I… I'll think about it." I said. And I meant it. I couldn't believe it but I was really considering this. But I had no way out… I had no Percy… my life was gone… why not make a new one?

"I can only let you think for a week. We leave then, with the rise of the moon," she warned. Of course she wouldn't say the sunset-that paid tribute to her pigheaded brother.

She stood and walked out. I thought hard. But I never needed long to think. She was at the entryway. I turned to watch them leave and Thalia had turned around to look at me. It had been since the final war with Kronos that we'd seen each other. We looked at each other for only a few seconds before some understanding passed between us, and we both ran at each other, wrapping our arms around each other in a comforting hug. I didn't know huntresses could cry, but Thalia cried with me. Percy was her friend, and I knew she'd had high hopes for us. This was a loss for her too. And she was my best friend-so she cried with me. Artemis came back and laid a hand on each of our shoulders, gently pulling as away from each other and turning us to face her on my left. Behind her was a big couch and two chairs centered around a dark wood table, but focused on a magnificent dark wood fireplace; it was beautiful and I loathed it.

Artemis looked into my eyes, then Thalia's, and Thalia and I shared the same intense, understanding gaze.

I'd heard it all before, and she began, skipping all the "Are you sure?" and "Repeat after me," business. I knew what to say.

"I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis…"


	3. Chapters 3, 4 and 5

**If I had to choose between loving you, and breathing, **

**I would use my last breath to say "I love you."**

**~Unknown~**

**3**

Something new was wrong, I could feel it. Something about Annabeth had changed. But of course, I couldn't know.

Grover felt it more strongly. I'd run to the forest to find his dryad girlfriend Juniper, because I knew she would know where he was. She did-on a quest of some kind.

I used the empathy link.

_Grover… If you can hear me… I need you, man… like, right now. Annabeth…_

I couldn't say anything more. But I got the reply.

_Coming._

I saw what he was seeing. Blurred trees, cities, everything, rushing by at unbelievable speeds. He was riding a centaur or something, trying to get back as fast as possible. He cared about Annabeth nearly as much as I did-it was just different. She was like a sister to him.

So he came. And he was there in minutes, from who knows what gods-forsaken place around the world.

"What happened?!" He asked, nearly yelling in my face, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me. "Good to see you too, goat-boy," I said, adding a fake bleat for good measure. I knew that would bug him. He glared, and Juniper was there in moments, tackling him in a hug. As soon as that was over, I grabbed his arm and dragged him back to my cabin.

"Athena found us on the beach really late at night and Tyson was playing fetch with harpies and Annabeth and I kissed again and said I love you and I love her and I miss her and we were on the beach for a long time but Athena found out and she came and took her away and the gods got in a fight and I saved Olympus and now I'm ruining it and Annabeth is stuck on Olympus imprisoned by her mom but something's changed and I can feel it but I don't know what and HELP!"

"Percy, calm down!" he said. What?

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, completely ignoring the fact it was barely light out, only minutes after the sun had risen.

"I can feel it, ok? Just give me a minute. You have to be quiet. It's something to do with nature, so maybe I can figure this out."

I climbed up on my bunk and sat, rocking back and forth, sitting cross-legged. I could still hear her voice ringing in my head. "I love you." Why did this stuff have to happen to us? So I started thinking. I had to figure this out. It was Annabeth. She was on Olympus. And something about her had changed that had to do with nature…

"Thalia…" Grover whispered.

"No." It came out a whisper. I felt like I had lost my voice. I had. I felt like I was going to die. I was. That was it. I would just go die. I would kill myself.

If only I could. Styx! (I mean the as a cuss word, and literally. I jumped in the Styx, remember? I'm virtually invincible. I wouldn't be able to kill myself.)

"She's… no… Grover please no…"

"I'm sorry Percy."

**4**

I was a hunter. Is it crazy? Yes. Did I regret it?

Heck yes.

Now what?

I serve as a hunter. It was empowering, I'll admit. Physically, it felt _amazing_. As soon as I finished the oath, I knew I was stronger, faster, smarter. I glowed a shiny, silvery color, like moonlight. My senses were a thousand times better, like I was seeing the world through new eyes. I could feel everything in the air around me-pure air, and pollution. The pollution made me sad. I could feel that the tree next to me would die soon. I could feel that another would grow in its place. I heard a wolf howl in the distance. I felt a breeze I had not noticed before, very faint. Everything was brighter. I smelled the trees; pine. It was very strong now. I also could smell that it would rain soon-a strange way to predict the weather, I thought.

We were standing in a forest near Lake Michigan. I didn't really know where, specifically. But it was… very nature-ish. Oh I suppose the word would be natural… oh well.

It was beautiful. But nothing should be beautiful if Percy didn't exist, because he basically didn't anymore. I shouldn't be happy-I wasn't, so that was okay and not a concern.

But everyone else was having a great time. I knew I would be-if you could be a hunter and love someone. But you couldn't. So I tried to put on a happy face, and fake it.

I guess I'm good at it. I'd never really had to try.

Thalia ran up to me as soon as I was out of my tent, like she'd been watching and waiting for me to stop crying and come out. She probably had. "Come on Annabeth!" she exclaimed, grabbing my wrist and dragging me to a campfire where hunters were singing and dancing and goofing off. It was about ten o' clock at night, but I was not in the mood for curling up in that tent alone anymore-all that led to was crying. So I ran with Thalia, smiling and laughing and having a good time and acting like I didn't care about all the stuff with Percy-trying to convince them as much as myself. I just blocked it out, but I knew that would come back to bite me later.

So I had fun with the hunters for about an hour, then went to bed and cried for another 20 minutes before I fell asleep.

What had I done?

**5**

"How could she, Grover? Did she really give up?"

"I don't know, Percy. But I'm sorry-"Grover, don't be sorry. We are going to find her."

"But Percy, the gods-"Don't matter." Thunder rumbled. _Sorry, I didn't mean that. I just mean you cannot affect my decision._ I thought. I hoped that didn't mean they were listening now.

"Percy… I really don't think this is a good idea…" Grover said timidly as I threw things into a backpack, running through a mental checklist. _Riptide, Ambrosia, Nectar…_

"Go find Tyson," I said, ignoring him. He sighed in defeat. "Okay." He ran out.

I knew this wouldn't be easy. But I had to do it. Annabeth was my life, and I was not letting go that easily.

_Annabeth, wherever you are… I love you._


	4. Chapter 6

"**What will survive of us is love."**

**Philip Larkin~  
**

**6**

I took a deep breath. This was it. This was the rest of my life-my very, very, _very_ long life.

I started crying again. Dang tears. Why couldn't I stop crying?

Oh yeah, I know-BECAUSE I HAD JUST LOST MY LIFE.

Thalia was taking me out to do… whatever it is hunters do. Basically, go around the woods saving stuff. I didn't even know what we were doing. I didn't pay attention to any of it. I just spaced out and wished I were anywhere but there-anywhere I could see Percy. I was sitting in the tent I shared with Thalia, getting dressed much slower than needed, and thinking.

What would happen if I did find him now? I was a hunter-no boys allowed. I would die, wouldn't I? Isn't that the penalty for breaking the oath? I hadn't paid much attention; I'd made the oath in a sort of trance. I'd decided too quickly, been too confident that there was no way out, and no way in. And now I'd ruined myself-and Percy.

Oh no. That was something I hadn't even thought of. How must Percy feel right now? Even worse than I. I had been captured-but he had literally had me ripped away from him. I felt selfish thinking that I was the most important thing in his life, but I couldn't help but know it was true. It had been more selfish only to think of my feelings in this situation. So now I felt horrible for myself, horrible for Percy, and horrible for not feeling horrible for Percy sooner.

_Well, this sucks._

"Annabeth! Almost ready?" Thalia called from just outside the tent. _Of course not,_ I thought. How could I be ready to face the first full day of what I had doomed myself to? I felt like an idiot-worse for me than feeling horrible. I hated the feeling that I had done something wrong, or couldn't do something, or was inferior to anyone in any way… such a child of Athena.

I wiped my face clean of tears, and tried to make it less red as I knew it would be. I cleared my throat, and decided to fake a cold for a while. Wait, could hunters get sick? Probably not.

"One second," I called weakly. My cover wasn't working. Thalia heard my voice crack. My attempt was poor.

"That was absolutely pathetic, Annabeth. I know you like the back of my hand, don't try and fake to me." I looked up into her electric blue eyes as she towered above me, strong and independent and boy-free. Maybe it was a good idea.

I shot that idea down. No.

Her eyes pierced through me. She was determined. But after she looked at me, she took her hands off her hips, and assumed a defeated position. She softened. Thalia sat down next to me, and put an arm around my shoulders. "Annabeth… I'm sorry." She said. She had nothing better, and I knew that. What better was there to say? I'd ruined my own life beyond repair, and Thalia wasn't exactly the motherly type, so this was odd for her.

"Thanks, but… I have to fix this."

She took her arm away-probably wanting to reassume her tough mystique as soon as possible-and sighed.

"I know. And I'm coming with you."

"No, I… wait what?" I hadn't expected that. I forgot what I had been going to say before that. I looked at her, and she looked back, and the weirdest thing happened.

I knew what she was thinking for a second. And I thought I knew why.

"Thalia… is it possible for hunters to form empathy links?" She looked at me harder and nearly jumped back. "Apparently. And the force of your emotion right now is bowling me over," she said, laughing a bit. I chuckled as well, in a melancholy sort of way. It was a bittersweet joke.

She stood and helped me up. And I couldn't help it-I hugged her. She went ramrod straight, not sure what now. I didn't normally just hug people at random. But she hugged back before grabbing my shoulders and thoroughly looking at me.

"Wow you've changed." She looked confused. "You're older than me." It took me a moment to grasp that, but I was, because she became a hunter a couple years ago and I kept getting older. Weird.

"Well, enough examining each other. We'll have plenty of time together, on the run. Start packing." She left.

Wow. That was much easier than I thought it would be. I didn't know where we were going, or how long we would be gone, or how this could POSSIBLY work out, but I knew how to pack for that kind of thing: clothes and money. Nothing you can live without.

Then again, that was all I had. Now with the addition of a glowing silver bow and a quiver of arrows.

So I threw what little I had into a small bag, slung it over my shoulder with my quiver and arrow, and stalked out of the tent. I flung it all to the ground and looked around for Thalia. It was barely dawn.

_Day 2 without Percy_ I thought pathetically.

Thalia was thirty feet away at Artemis's big, shining silver tent. I saw her silhouette inside, standing across from the goddess's own form. I could hear their voices, but not quite make out what they were saying. They were arguing, though, and I knew it had to do with me.

Then I remembered the empathy link. So I tried to contact Thalia, get in her head without freaking her out, and find out what was going on. And soon I was in Artemis' tent, seeing through Thalia's eyes.

"Thalia, she made the oath. It's too late.-"What would you do, Artemis?" I had never heard anyone talk back to the goddess before. They must have been very close.

"Thalia… it's too risky… I cannot control what fate will bring her if she breaks the oath. It is as strong as swearing upon the Styx."

Thalia was silent, at a loss for words. So I gave her the words.

_Tell her I know how dangerous it is._

"She knows how dangerous it is."

_Tell her I'm willing to take it, and that I have to try or I'll never forgive myself._

"She can take it. And if she doesn't try, I know she'll never forgive herself. Please, Artemis. She may die, but she'd rather die trying than live a lie."

"She's noble. And I see that. And I see why you've been such a close friend to her-you two are similar."

The goddess was silent in thought. She looked down at a table between them, moving around maps and pens and papers in no particular order.

"Go."

"Excuse me, my lady?"

"Go, before I realize what I'm doing,"

Thalia ran out of the tent. I was already packing our tent up, and she had already packed. The weight of our clothes and tent felt like nothing, we were so strong now. I barely knew I was carrying anything. As soon as we were packed up, we ate and started planning.

"Where to first?" Thalia asked. A question I had not considered. I thought for a minute.

"Camp. Even if he's not there, I know there will be someone who knows where he went. Trust me."

And we began our journey. _Just like old times,_ I thought. But that made me shed one tear for someone else-Luke Castellan. I cleared him from my mind and focused on the task ahead, because it would not be easy.

_Percy, wherever you are… I'm coming._


	5. Chapter 7

"**Love is like a rose. It looks beautiful on the **

**outside, but there is always pain hidden somewhere."**

**~Unknown~**

**7**

How could she do this to me?

What was I thinking? This was not her fault. I felt horrible for even letting that thought cross my mind now. I sat on the floor of my cabin and punched my backpack, hitting the zipper full force. "Styx!" I grunted. Stupid backpack. Stupid Athena. Stupid _life_. I stood to go climb in my bed or something.

"Gosh, Percy, what did your bag do to you?" Rachel asked. I hadn't notice her in the doorway. Ugh. I did not need her right now.

Wait… yes I did. Rachel was an Oracle.

"Rachel… I need a prophecy. Please don't ask why-"You're going to save Annabeth. It's obvious." I sighed. Was I that bad? Wow.

"Alright. Go ahead," I said, sitting on the floor again and mentally bracing myself. She got that weird look she gets when she's telling a prophecy-I can't even describe it. Not that you would want me to, it's kind of disturbing.

"_You will travel with friends, though the going is hard._

_You will face many struggles, both near and far._

_Your journey will peak, and meet a fine end,_

_And you'll discover a secret's befallen you then."_

Of course I didn't understand a word of it, but most of it sounded good, and it gave me something to go on. Rachel's normal expression returned and she smiled at me, of course not really knowing what she'd just said. "Was it good news?" she asked happily. She was in a good mood today. I'd never thought of Rachel as perky, but I did now.

"I think so." I repeated the lines to her. "Hmm…" she said, clearly deep in thought. "Well it does sound good. The first line is kind of pointing out the obvious, though," she said, laughing at herself. I laughed a bit, but wasn't in a laughing mood. I got up off the floor and sat on one of the empty bottom bunks. Rachel came in and sat next to me, cautiously. She knew I would be a bit nervous about hanging out with her when Annabeth was gone-but I wasn't that worried anymore. Although Rachel and I were still close friends, she was like a sister now, and I couldn't even IMAGINE liking her as anything more than that. She agreed, and I knew that. I know it's hard to believe, but really. I know she's telling the truth. She didn't need to be cautious anymore-Annabeth trusted her as much as I did now.

"I know you're going to be okay," she told me comfortingly. I sighed. "I sure hope so." She grabbed my arm and held my hand in her lap. "Really," she said. I pulled my arm away so that I could hug her. "Thanks, Rachel," I muttered into her hair. She smelled like strawberries.

"It's what I'm here for," she said, pulling away. Grover walked in. "Hey, Percy, we should head out. Oh hey Rachel!" he said, running in and hugging her. We were all just a tight group now-no prejudices, no enemies anymore. It was awesome. We only had problems not caused by each other now-which we all helped each other with.

Juniper was right behind him-she got to the door just moments after Grover. "Rachel!" she said, running in and hugging her after Grover before backing up to stand next to Grover. He put his arm around her waist and she put her head on his shoulder. I looked at them and sighed.

That should have been me and Annabeth.

They hugged, and Grover grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. I did the same, hugging Juniper first, and then Rachel again. Grover did the reverse-hugging Rachel again and then getting tackled by Juniper. He nearly fell over and ended up picking her up as she jumped into his arms. Rachel saw the pain in my eyes as I watched them. She came over and planted a kiss on my cheek-completely harmless, really.

Grover and I stepped out of the cabin as Juniper and Rachel returned to… whatever it is they'd been doing before. We went to the top of Half-Blood Hill and sat-realizing we had no idea where we were going. But Grover could kind of sense her, right? We could all kind of sense each other-I guess it comes with deep relationships when you're a half blood.

"Grover, any idea where she is?" Then I felt something. "Wait," I told him just before he began to talk. _I_ could sense her.

She was in water for some reason. Or near it.

"She's near Lake Michigan, but heading this way," I told him.

"Well what if she's on her way back?" he asked.

"No way. She'll be goofing off and having a great time with the hunters. She probably doesn't even know what we're about to do." Grover looked skeptical. "I doubt she's that oblivious, Percy." I couldn't help agreeing a bit, and feeling a twinge of guilt at saying something about her with such utter distaste as I just had.

"Well, let's go," I told him. We would find some mode of transportation-we always did. We had some American money and some drachmas and our usual instinct and sense of direction. And Grover's sense of smell, of course. We started simply walking up farm road 3.14. It was quite un-exciting.

We walked for a mile, at least, before "Percy…"

Oh no. I knew that tone of voice.

I felt hot breath down my neck, before I even heard the heavy breathing. We were only a mile away from camp, and already it was beginning.

I pulled Riptide out and readied myself for the worst.


	6. Chapter 8 and 9

**(Author's Note: This is still Percy. I would have written longer last time, but it's hard to find long periods of time to continuously write now that school's started.)**

**8 **

"Grover," I whispered as quietly as I could manage. But it wasn't quiet enough.

"ROAR!" a growl ripped through the air, nearly rendering me deaf. Whatever was behind me, it was big, and it was bloodthirsty. I guess I looked like a chicken sandwich or something.

In a split second I had half-jumped, half-ran ten feet forward and spun around to face the beast. The only slightly similar monster I could think of was the Chimera I had killed years ago. But this was no Chimera. It had the head of a man, body of a lion, and a tail with a spike at the end that I didn't quite know the purpose of. Until it whipped its tail around to Grover and shot the spike out. He jumped aside in the nick of time.

Wonderful.

I looked at its golden coat and tried to pinpoint where its weakest place would be. I decided that, unlike the impenetrable coat of the Nemean Lion, I could just stab it and it should disintegrate. Not to say that that would be easy.

I tried to time when it would swing its tail my direction-and came up short. I jumped to jump over it and it hadn't whipped around yet. So I re-calculated-laughed at myself for being like Annabeth-and tried the next time around, jumping towards it and trying to stab it. I missed and fell right next to it, where its tail would be in moments. I could have stabbed it-if I had not let Riptide fly out of my hand and ten feet away. I was stuck directly in the path of a deadly, spiky tail, and my doom.

All I'd been through, and a stupid lion thing was going to kill me?

I heaved myself up-and jumped on its back, riding it like I had the minotaur. What I did not think of before I did that was that its tail would come up and try to hit me; so I rolled out of the way just in time for its tail to thwack itself in the back. The creature seemed surprised-he stood still and made a sort of whimpering noise, for the split second before he disintegrated.

I fell to the ground, exhausted and dripping with sweat much less than normal. That had been a fast fight, and far too easy.

"A Manticore," Grover said. I sighed, and looked at him, perfectly fine and untouched. He'd jumped out of the way and then stood and watched.

"Well, now what?" I asked him. He looked behind me and pointed. "We get going, only maybe he can carry you a while."

I turned around, but already knew who it was-so I turned around just in time to get attacked in a bear hug.

"Tyson, really man, I've got bones that need to stay in-tact," I said into his beefy stomach. He'd grown again-so the hug was even more crushing than a few months ago.

"Tyson come to help brother and goat-boy!" he said in his funny, young, yet deep and scratchy voice. I never got tired of hearing his poor English-it was just a part of his character.

Grover bleated in annoyance at being called goat-boy. Tyson finally let me go and we started walking.

"Where is Annabeth?" Tyson whimpered. Grover nearly choked on a tin can.

"Annabeth… is in trouble." Tyson gasped. "Annabeth is in trouble? We will help her." He was so confident. I wished I had that.

"Yes, we will," Grover said. I'd never heard him affirm Tyson like that. He usually avoided talking to him.

"We're going to help Annabeth, 'kay buddy?" I told him, patting him on the arm as I could no longer reach his shoulder. "Annabeth's gonna be fine." I saw a tear slide down his cheek. He sniffled, but I knew he was trying to be strong. Poor guy.

We walked quietly the rest of the way up the farm road, and checked the bus schedule. The next bus into the city was coming in an hour. Great. We sat on the bench in silence… and it started to rain.

**9**

I wondered where Percy was right now. Probably sitting in a cabin, talking and laughing with Grover, Tyson, Juniper and Rachel-forgetting all about me. He would move on, I realized. He was stronger than me, I thought.

I sighed. Bad plan-Thalia looked up from the fire she was tending.

"Annabeth, you can tell me you know." She left it at that, turning back to the flames. I processed this. I didn't really tell anyone _everything_ the way I told Percy everything. He was like my other half sometimes-I could tell him anything, and count on him to keep it a secret and react accordingly. We agreed on nearly everything, and if we disagreed, we tried to debate it in a calm manor. Fights couldn't last long-we couldn't stand it. But… without Percy, I realized I needed someone else to be that for me. The constant safe zone-my escape.

"I just…" I began. It felt weird to tell someone else. I just knew Percy was the one to hear my thoughts-it was like betraying him to not tell him something. But how could I? He was hundreds of miles away, and we were travelling on foot. He would forget all about me by the time we got back. It was over.

I couldn't stop myself; I started crying. Thalia dropped the stick she'd been using to poke at the fire and scampered to my side, putting an arm around me and sitting next to me on the log I'd decided looked comfortable. It wasn't. I put my head on her shoulder and just cried and mumbled things that she understood through our empathy link-unless she could magically make out what I was saying, which I doubt.

"Percy probably won't love me anymore by the time we get back," I whimpered through tears. She sighed exasperatedly and pulled away so she could grab my shoulders and shake me. "You are an _idiot_," she told me, rolling her eyes. "Of course he'll still love you! I have never seen two demigods connect the way you guys do. It's amazing-and abnormal, I think. Besides, what's not to love about you Annabeth! Of course he'll still love you." I looked at her and fell into her lap. She let me, stroking my hair. "Thank you…" I muttered, sitting back up and wiping my face dry of tears. She was right. We connected on such a deep level… I sound like a fortune cookie or something.

I sat back up and looked at the fire. She went back to her place next to it, poking it again with a new stick, as she had accidentally thrown the other into the fire. "Thalia?" I began, apprehensive. "Why do you think… Why do you think that Percy and I don't have an empathy link?" I'd been wondering this for a long time. From working alongside a goddess so long, I knew Thalia was very knowledgeable. "I honestly am not sure, but I think you can't have more than one empathy link, and Percy's link with Grover formed before you two got so emotionally tied." "Oh," I said lamely. That sounded like good deductive reasoning, and I felt like an idiot.

"Why is that, I wonder…"

"You ask too many questions," Thalia laughed, bringing me a hot dog she'd roasted. Were huntresses allowed to eat a substance unidentifiable to even humans? I looked past that and ate-who cares, hot dogs are good.

"We need ketchup," I jokingly said through a mouthful of mystery meat. She stared at the fire as I did, and made a "Hmmm…" noise through her mouthful. We stared into the fire another minute and started laughing a bit. And laughing more. And more. Until we were cracking up, falling off the log, laughing at each other's faces getting read and tearing up we were laughing so hard. We didn't completely know what we were laughing about-ketchup isn't really that funny. And now that I look back on it, it was quite odd-but I still laugh!

So overall I guess it was a good day. We finished eating (And laughing) and went to bed, exhausted, to the sound of crickets, frogs, and one another's breathing. It was quite soothing, looking up at the stars as Thalia pointed out constellations-some of hunters she'd known, which scared me a bit. But it was fun.

But it was night, and now I had time to think. I heard Thalia's snoring and new it was safe to start crying again. Every night, I couldn't seem to avoid this. I wondered what Percy was doing at that moment, and, thinking optimistically, fell asleep dreaming about when we'd see each other again…


	7. Chapter 10

**I hold it true, whate'er befall; **

**  
I feel it, when I sorrow most;**

**  
'Tis better to have loved and lost**

**  
Than never to have loved at all.**

**Alfred Tennyson**

**10**

The bus was crowded and stuffy on the way to New York. It smelled like wet dogs and, worse, wet New Yorkers. Now, crowded places are not fun for half bloods. We're not the biggest fans of enclosed spaces anyway, but enclosed places full of people? Anyone could be a monster; forget about it.

So we sat, hoping no one would find it odd that one of us was tiny and had a beard, one was eight feet tall, and one was just a disheveled, troubled-looking teenager. We got a few looks from people on the bus-and the bus driver, when asking for money, looked at us incredulously and kept the doors open despite the rain. He didn't think we had the money. I wanted to prove to him that we weren't as unkempt as we looked, so I whipped the money out of my pocket, fed it into the machine and got three tickets. He handed them to me and we took seats near the back exit-eager to get away from the driver, and get off as soon as possible.

Other than that, the ride was amazingly quiet. Grover thought he smelled something, but I think it was just soggy city-dwellers stuffing his nose-no monsters here. We made it all the way to New York without being attacked-although we saw a few centaurs out the window, who waved upon recognizing us-probably me. Most Greek immortals recognized me now-sometimes that was cool. Sometimes it wasn't.

When we got to New York, we decided to go straight to the library. I hadn't seen this library in so long, since I became a year-round camper-the big lion carvings in the front, stairs leading up to huge doors, security guards every ten feet… there's no place like home.

We got in and sent our bags through the security check thing. Amazingly, the Ambrosia and Nectar didn't tip the system at all. I thought it might, being a foreign substance and all. They just warned us not to eat it inside. Odd-normally they'd ask you to give them the food… then I looked closely at one of the security officers: he had one big eye in the middle of his head. He winked at me-a good Cyclops. Tyson high-fived him as we went through. They knew each other, I guess. I had a feeling we didn't have to worry about monsters here.

We went straight up to the computers, to search when the next Greyhound would be heading out to Detroit. As soon as I typed in "Michigan," Grover said "Wait." He thought for a minute, rubbing his temples. "They're not as close to the Lake," he told me, concentrating hard. "We've got a moving target…"

I sighed in annoyance. What could they be doing?

"They're not moving very fast, though. I think they're on foot-too environmentally conscious to do anything else." I thought for a moment, and pulled up a map of forests in the U.S.-they would probably stay in the forest, right? I followed the course they'd been on, at the rate they'd been going. Grover gave me the most exact coordinates he could for their current position, and I started calculating. "Okay… I'm going to embrace my inner Annabeth," I joked. Grover and Tyson started cracking up, but my heart wrenched when I said her name. I rubbed my temples and tried to think.

"Okay, I need to know all the stops the Greyhound makes, and where…" I said, talking more to myself than Grover and Tyson. I pulled the page back up. I estimated, at the rate of the bus, counting time for stops, and the rate they would go-since they didn't need much sleep or rest, Hunters are kind of self-sustaining-we would meet up at about Cleveland, Ohio-which was a stop for the Greyhound. I ignored the money, knowing we needed this, and bought the tickets-1 adult one for Tyson, and two children's tickets for Grover and I. We'd pretend we were adopted, and Tyson was our dad. Best excuse I had.

There was only one open bus from New York to Cleveland, Ohio. It was also the shortest. We got lucky. $175.53 for all of us to go. I wondered how much money we had…

"Grover, how much money you got?" I asked him, hopeful. I had about $50. "$50," he said. Uh-oh… "Tyson, how about you man?" "$100! Daddy gave me money when I left, said I would need it," he said, beaming. We could deal with less food than was normal-we were used to that. But we needed these tickets, and we were going to get them! I bought the tickets and we went to the printer to wait.

"Percy…" Grover said. _Not again_, I thought. I looked to the right where I could feel Grover looking, and saw two Cyclops holding clubs. I had a feeling these were not the good ones. I grabbed the tickets the second they came out and we ran to the elevators-no one else was in the room. The Cyclops followed.

We jumped into the elevator and slammed on the "close doors" button. A Cyclops lunged and reached in a meaty hand, and the last thing I expected happened-Tyson shot forward and bit him! His hand jerked back and the doors closed. We sank to the floor and started laughing-clearly, we were in hysteria. "Tyson, that rocked!" I told him as we stood again, the elevator doors sliding open on the bottom floor. I'd stuffed the tickets in my backpack already, so we power-walked straight out of there. The Cyclops at the door saw us and laughed-he'd known all along. We walked a bit faster, and as soon as we were outside we ran.

We walked up the street and found a hot dog stand, sitting on the curb and gulping down two hot dogs each-well, Grover ate the wrappers, and the cans once all the lemonade was gone. But it was kind of hard to hide that from the mortals, just in case the mist didn't work as well as normal. We always had to be cautious… it was so annoying.

As soon as we were done with the hotdogs, we started scoping out alleyways and trees for a place to sleep. We finally found some totally concealed bushes in central park-it was getting dark already. We set shifts to watch for monsters, and make sure we'd get to the bus on time. I took second, so Grover stayed up and watched for the beginning of the night. But the guys never woke me up for my shift-Tyson took a double so I could sleep, and let me tell you, he was beat. But I was thankful.

We started walking up streets again, in search of a clock and a map. It was 9:00-we had an hour and fifteen minutes until the Greyhound left, but we were supposed to be there fifteen minutes early. I remembered the address, and started going through all the buses I knew of-I had most of the routes and schedules memorized.

The Greyhound station was at 625 8th Avenue. We were on the west side of Central Park, but could easily walk to 8th and catch a bus up. We were at 8th and 59th, and needed to be at 8th and 40th. I realized subway would be easier as soon as I saw the schedules, so we hopped on a subway from 59th to 42nd, and walked the couple of blocks back. We were there in about 15 minutes-plenty of extra time to actually find the Greyhound station.

Tyson and Grover just stared at me the whole time, wondering how I'd been figuring out all these numbers and how I had known so many routes in the first place. I laughed at one point on the subway. "You guys are looking at me like I saved a dying girl," I told them. They immediately went back to normal, staring out windows-at the blank cement wall of the tunnel. Nice try, guys.

The Greyhound station was easy to find, and by the time we got there, it was about 9:30. Now that we knew where it was, we wanted food to tide us over. We went to a Mexican food stand and got burritos, watching anxiously for monsters. Going a day and a half with barely any monsters makes you jittery. We ate in peace, and walked back the station, arriving at ten. Time to start boarding and head out.

_I'm coming, Annabeth!_

AN: Sorry if I got a bit carried away with the New York transit stuff. After having been to New York, in the exact places Percy just went in this chapter, I actually knew some of the bus lines and stuff, so I decided to do some research. About half of this was written going back and forth between maps, Greyhound info sites, NYC Transit info... Haha! :) Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 11

**11**

I woke up more exhausted than when I had fallen asleep. I'd had major nightmares-Percy getting attacked and killed, Percy eating too much ambrosia and spontaneously combusting, Percy's cabin randomly collapsing and killing him, Percy getting bitten by a who-knows-what and bleeding to death… why? I don't know. I'm paranoid, I guess.

The first thing I did was cut my arm on the log next to me. Great. I was bleeding. Perfect, just perfect.

Thalia had already packed everything up, and was getting the fire down and out. She'd magically found eggs and made breakfast-I wasn't going to ask what kind of eggs they were, I just ate. Good enough.

"Wow, you were busy," I said jokingly through a mouthful of egg. Thalia laughed. "I guess so," she said, finally getting the fire out. She waved her hand over it and the pile of wood flew back around the clearing, as if it were natural. Grass grew back where the ashes had been. I wondered how long it would be until I could do that, realized I had my whole life-a long one-to practice. I could be one of the greatest half-bloods ever-and the saddest. Most depressed. I was going to be an emo half blood.

"Thalia, I am going emo. I would like to steal your clothes," I proclaimed in a jokingly regal voice. She laughed. "Thou shalt not steal," she joked. I laughed at her-what was that even from? It sounded official, though, so I went with it.

"How much longer do you think it will take to get to camp?" I asked her. I wasn't sure I wanted the answer. "At the rate hunters can travel? A couple days, I think. It's not as far as you think. And we travel fast and light," she joked, hefting her small pack.

I supposed she was right. I stood, slung my bag over my shoulder, and started hiking after her-she'd already walked thirty feet without me. I choked down the last of my breakfast as I tried to catch up, but I didn't want to look like an idiot and scream "Wait up!" so I didn't. I finally caught up to her-panting like an idiot.

"What's your favorite thing about Percy," she said, hopping over a fallen tree. "Hmm…" I muttered, hoisting myself over. She waved her hand over it and flowers sprouted. It became shrouded in shrubbery-a source of natural life once again.

"I don't know. What do you mean?" I asked her. This was far too hard a question; there were so many things I loved about him.

"Hmm… first off, best physical feature-"His eyes," I said before she could even finish her sentence. She laughed. "Well you knew that answer. Hmm… best quality?" Now this one was harder-not that Percy doesn't have many good physical qualities, I just obsess over his eyes. And hair.

"Umm… I can tell him anything, so I guess he's trustworthy. Does that work?" "Close enough," she said, looking at her feet to keep from falling. _I doubt she'd fall,_ I thought as I tripped over a stick. Thalia snickered a bit. "Thinking about Percy?" Why would that make me a klutz? Humph.

"Well you _are_ interrogating me about him, it's hard not to think about him," I pointed out very matter-of-factly. "Touché," she said, poking me in the side. I would have poked back, but I would have fallen again. I decided to save myself the embarrassment.

A twig snapped behind me. Thalia and I froze, stock still. She turned ever so slightly, so slowly that at first I didn't notice. I stayed put. She gasped, and I couldn't help but whip my head around. It hadn't been a twig-it was the tree we'd hopped over only moments ago. It was at least 100 feet away now, but it had been up to my waist, fallen over. It was a big tree.

And it had just been snapped like a twig.

Thalia pulled out her bow and quiver. "Get ready for your first battle as a hunter," she whispered so quietly I could barely hear her. And then an arrow flew past my head and hit the tree beside Thalia. I'd heard the _hiss_ as it passed. We dropped to the ground immediately, and readied our bows. Our opponents were armed-how could someone small enough to hold a bow with normal sized-arrows, snap that tree? I couldn't imagine it.

Then I realized whoever they were they had company-when twenty battle cries, clearly of girls, rang out at once, with one lone male cry among them. It was deep, throaty, and loud. Whatever that was, I didn't want to cross paths with it. Another arrow whizzed past my ear. "Styx," Thalia muttered. The arrow had grazed her shoulder.

"Okay, this is not going to be easy, or fun," she stated quite plainly. I could hear the change in her voice-she was going into battle mode. Do not mess with a Thalia in battle.

"We're outnumbered. A lot. And whoever the guy is-I'm gonna go with Cyclops-let's just try and avoid him, or outsmart him. The girls-I think it's the Amazons. They were honorary daughters of Ares and they are brutal-I've come across them before. Do not get separated from me, you understand? They will try to trick you. They think they're very cunning, but the fact is they're just too full of themselves to realize that they can't really fight. It's _almost_ sad. Almost."

I'd heard of the Amazons. They were a ruthless tribe of women bent on warfare and death. Great.

I looked around and realized we were surrounded. There were less than we thought-only about ten. And a Cyclops-Polyphemus. Uh-oh. He was back to haunt me. Since I'd tricked him, he was always out to get me. I'd killed him at least once… maybe twice, I couldn't remember. Why can't monsters just stay dead?

"GET NOBODY!!!" Polyphemus screamed. Yup, that's my buddy, the Cyclops. Great. Just great.

However his outburst thoroughly confused the Amazons, so Thalia and I were able to take five of them out in one swipe each with our short daggers. That left us with five girls, and Polyphemus. "You get the Amazons, I'll get the Cyclops," I told her, immediately working this out. It worked without too much trouble…

Except for of course the arrow lodged in Thalia's right arm.

She moaned and fell to the ground, passed out from blood loss.

Styx.


	9. Chapter 12

"**Too often, we are so preoccupied with **

**the destination that we forget the **

**  
journey."**

**~Unknown~**

**12**

Greyhounds across the middle of nothing are so boring. I didn't recognize anything after the first hour, and I didn't care. I stared blankly out the window, asking Grover "Are we there yet?" nearly every ten minutes. Eventually he said "Percy, if you keep that up you'll have lost your voice by the time we're halfway there." This discouraged me, because it meant we weren't even halfway there, weren't even halfway to Annabeth.

It wasn't that I couldn't stand the boring travel. I've been on enough quests to be ok with travelling in much less luxurious vehicles than Greyhound buses-like when we road to Vegas in the back of a van with a zebra, a lion, and some other animal I forget… it was not fun. Those animals, need I mention, do not smell good, and when you had to sneak into the truck, that means you have to be completely silent the whole ride. Worst trip ever…

Until now. Because Annabeth was there then, and she was not now.

I leaned my head against the window, hoping that the constant vibration would scramble my brain and cause me to be unable to think. All I managed to do was give myself a Zeus-sized headache. We drove past some wild centaurs. They waved and shot a paintball at the window. I assume mortals saw bird poop or something-fluorescent blue bird poop.

I curved my body in a strange way I can't even describe to try and find a way to sleep. I managed to get all of me up on the small seat and in between the arm rests, with my head on the top of the seat like it was a pillow. This was difficult, but I did it. I closed my eyes and refused to open them again, no matter how long it would take to fall asleep.

But as soon as my eyelids shut, I was out. And I was dreaming.

Uh-oh.

I was standing in nothing, literally. All I could see was black-no sides, no top, no bottom. There was a random whole about 10 feet in front of me-a circle of white with no end. I walked towards it and couldn't see anything inside of it. Soon there was a small red dot in the middle. It got bigger and bigger and bigger, filling the white circle, until I realized it was not getting bigger, it was getting closer.

I jumped back just as it burst out from the white, breaking as soon as it came out of the white, splattering red everywhere, all over the black around it. The white circle remained, perfect in the middle of all the red. I wanted to jump into it.

So I did.

I ran and jumped over the red and landed perfectly in the white circle. Now I was in white with no side, no top, no bottom. I fell and fell and fell until I thought I could fall no more, and was going nowhere, but soon I found the bottom. I could not see it, but I landed. It did not hurt. Suddenly ten feet in front of me was Annabeth.

She wore a simple, white dress with no shape. Her hair was braided with a silver ribbon through it. Her gray eyes were startling. She wore silver sandals matching the ribbon, and a silver snake wound up her arm-ancient Greek jewelry? I didn't know. It was like when Circe had taken Annabeth and given her a make-over that she'd never needed. Only this time, she had no make-up. That made me happier-she didn't need it.

I realized I was still sprawled out on the strange smooth nothingness like an idiot. I stood and began to slowly walk towards her. She didn't move, but her eyes would occasionally flick to the sides, or lock on me. Finally they locked on me for a long time, and she smiled. She stretched her arms out as if wanting to hug me.

Suddenly the vision changed.

Annabeth was glowing silver. She had a silver quiver of arrows, and a bow slung over her shoulder. Battle gear covered her simple dress. She dropped her arms, looking at her hands, looking herself over like she didn't know what was happening. I reached towards her, and she looked up at me. Her eyes were sad, full of longing and regret. I was only a foot away from her by this time. She reached out, touched my face, and as she slid her hand gently down my cheek, she began to disappear. I reached up to grab her hand a second too late, and she was gone. Where she'd been, there was a black circle.

I stared down at it sadly. Suddenly I heard a yell and someone ran up behind me, right into me, pushing me into the darkness of the black circle. I was falling, falling, falling…

And I woke up.

"Percy!" Grover yelled in my face, shaking my shoulders. The whole bus was staring at me. "Grover," I croaked, realizing tears were streaming down my face. I was losing my mind. "Grover…" I whispered again, as if just trying to convince myself that he was real, and not an illusion. "Percy okay?" Tyson asked. "Yeah, um, I'm fine buddy," I lied. "You not okay, Percy. Tyson not a idiot."

I sighed. I couldn't fool him anymore.

"Sorry everyone," Grover said. I could tell he was thinking quickly. "He has a rare disease that causes him to have seizures in his sleep that correspond with strange, often horrifying dreams. It's a horrible condition. I'm sorry you had to be here for it, he'll be able to control it now-it usually just pops up when we come to a new place. Go back to… whatever you were doing. Again, sorry," he said. It wasn't a bad excuse, considering the circumstances.

"Grover," I whispered. "What did I do?" I asked him. I realized that when I had woken up, I'd been on the floor. "You rolled out of the chair, and started screaming and crying and writhing on the ground like someone was torturing you… it was the scariest thing I've ever seen, Percy, and I know the Mist hid it from these people. They think you just yelled a couple times, twitched, and woke up crying."

I was sure I'd gone pale, then started blushing in embarrassment. Soon I knew I was pale again, though. "Grover, the dream I had… it's not like any I've had before…" "I know," he said. Oh of course, the empathy link.

"But Grover, what does it _mean_?" I asked him, like he knew all the answers. He was usually pretty good at interpreting my dreams.

"I… I don't know Percy. Give me some time to think about it."

_How much longer can I live like this?_ I thought, gazing out the window, leaning my head against it again. Was there a deeper meaning to the dream, or was it simply showing how horribly distraught I was over Annabeth's decision to become a Hunter? I wasn't sure, but I'd go with that-I wasn't sure I wanted to know a deeper meaning.

"It has no deeper meaning, Percy. I would know. I think that's why I can't get it-it's so simple," Grover laughed.

"Alright," I said. I understood, then. I was more distraught than I wanted to admit.

My stomach growled. "How long have we been on the road?" I asked. "A couple hours," Grover told me. How was that possible?!

I sighed and leaned my head against the window once again. This was going to be a long 12 hours…

When the something rammed into the bus. It spun out of control; the driver was knocked out. We had to save these innocent people-this must have to do with us. I ran to the front of the bus, shoving the driver to the ground where Grover caught him, and jumping into the driver's seat. I got it back on the road, but we were rammed again. This time I couldn't do anything-we flipped over a couple times. Everyone had a seatbelt on except Tyson, Grover, the driver and I. We were rolled all over, and Tyson looked like he was going to be sick. We tumbled across the highway, landing in a ditch in a grassy field on the other side, upside down. I collapsed, tasting blood. I felt it drip down my face, from my mouth. Great. Soon I was knocked out. The last thing I heard was the sound of something jumping on the top-er, bottom-of the bus. It sounded big, and definitely not human.

Why me?


	10. Chapter 13

**There are no good quotes about death; this **

**is because death is something no one can truly **

**understand, until it's happened, and you're gone.**

**~Maxride45~**

**13**

_Styx. Styx styx styx styx styx!!_

My best friend was dying and I was just sitting there. Her silvery hunter's glow was fading. I knew this meant she was on her way out. Shouldn't Artemis be able to feel it? Wouldn't she come help us?

I forced myself to stop thinking and act. I started going through my bag for Ambrosia and Nectar. I gave her a small amount. She blinked. I remembered we were immortals, and would need more of the stuff to heal. I gave her more and she began to sit up. She suddenly gasped for breath and nearly fell again, heaving forward. She threw up. Ew.

"Thalia!" I yelled. I'd never been so happy to see someone upchuck in my whole life.

She laughed. A good sign. Wiping her mouth, she stood with the help of the tree, and nearly fell straight back down. I shot up to catch her. "Thanks," she choked out. She pointed to the Ambrosia and Nectar; I gave her more. "Go ahead and start walking," she said. She leaned against the tree, drinking Nectar.

I felt bad leaving her behind, but Thalia knew what she was doing. I couldn't afford to question her judgment-now was not the time. Why she wanted me to go ahead, I didn't understand until it was too late.

I walked forward, and about thirty feet in front of her I looked back to be sure she was still okay. She was still leaned against the tree, drinking, catching her breath, looking around at the forest like nothing had happened. I laughed a bit to myself. She looked in my direction with the universal "what's so funny?" expression and I turned around and kept walking. Fifty feet ahead, I heard something behind me. I thought, of course, it was Thalia running to catch up. But it never advanced; it was walking perpendicular to me, I thought. Odd.

Something was still wrong. I could feel it.

I turned around and saw Thalia-only I didn't.

Thalia was gone.

I watched after whatever it was that had picked her up. I soon realized it was the Cyclops. We'd forgotten to deal with him when she'd been shot, and he seemed to just leave. He had Thalia slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and she complied, not squirming or screaming or trying to fight him.

"Thalia!" I screamed, beginning to run after her. She soon reached me with the empathy link.

_It's okay, Annabeth. Let him take me. Please, go on alone-you can do it. The Hunters are nearby, they're going to help me. I need Artemis to fully heal me-the Ambrosia and Nectar can't. It was a deep wound that should have caused me to die, but you fought it. I need Artemis to fully reverse the affects. Polyphemus doesn't realize, but he's carrying me right to where the Hunters had camped next. I will be fine, Annabeth. Go find Percy. May Artemis bless you on your quest-no matter how against her beliefs it may be. Go._

I stopped where I was and stared after her. She gazed at me and I could see her expression clearly, though she was fifty feet away. Her eyes were pleading with me to leave. _Go_, she mouthed, just as I heard it in my head again. I stared for a second longer, then realized I was wasting valuable time. I turned in the other direction abruptly and ran. It took me minutes to realize I was hungry and crying and out of breath and confused and long past where Thalia and I had left our stuff and I was going the wrong direction and getting no closer to Percy and I sank down next to a tree and cried and cried and cried because I was having one of those strange mental breakdowns again.

As I lay there crying, I realized I was once again wasting time. I got up and ran the other direction, back again, to where we had left our stuff. This built in sense of direction thing was kind of nice. I was near… Gary, Indiana, that was the nearest big city. I grabbed my gear and headed out. I knew at some point I would have to come out of the woods, and there would be people-and monsters-looking for me. I couldn't wait to get back to camp, where it was safe and I was not alone.

I felt like running. It had been so long since I'd run by choice instead of running because a monster was chasing me. So I hefted my pack a bit higher on my back-not that it was heavy. Nothing was difficult anymore.-and ran. I ran and ran and ran and ran. It must have been miles, but being a Hunter had its benefits. It was so calming to run through the forest like I didn't have a care in the world-except of course that my hair was a mess from sleeping on the forest floor, I was covered in dirt, I had cuts and scrapes everywhere… it was serene, otherwise.

I wondered when I would see another monster. I knew travelling alone wasn't wise, and I would be discovered again soon.

I realized I needed to eat, and stopped where I was. I sat, leaning against a tree, and pulled out a sandwich-Hunters think of everything. As I sat and ate, I wondered how close Percy was, and what he might be doing. Then I thought-what if this quest were not to find him, and he were with me?

_We'd be kissing right now_, I thought jokingly to myself. I laughed. Probably not. We'd be cuddling, sure, but Grover would be there, and probably Tyson.

Then I had another thought-_was Athena watching me?_

I was abruptly very aware of my surroundings. I twisted and turned in an attempt to get a 360 view. I turned back to face forward and screamed.

"Who the heck are you?" I yelled in their face, still panting. Then I realized. How could it have taken me that long to realize?

"Oh forgive me, goddess Aphrodite. I… I was…"

"Looking for your mother," she said in a sweet voice. She really was very nice, I'd learned. Just a bit full of herself sometimes. I had a feeling she was having a good day, though.

"How are you?" she asked, leaning against a tree and making a fresh, juicy red apple appear in her hand. She bit it and her lipstick left a smear across the white inside. She wore a pink Greek tunic, with a gold girdle-her magic girdle, I realized. It had the power to make any man fall in love with whoever was wearing it. I found it an idle power, but I'd never tell her so-she could persuade most any god to turn me to dust, I was sure. She wore golden jewelry, and her eyelashes were actually covered in pure gold, sparkly mascara. Her eye shadow was gold as well. I nearly started laughing at the fact that she of all people felt the need to use make-up. _I_ didn't feel the need to use make-up!

"Ummm…. Not too good," I said honestly, realizing I'd been staring at her. I guessed she was used to it.

"I know. I don't know why I asked. I can't stand it when I'm away from Ares for long periods of time-I mean this of course is no problem. I should have come a while ago, you need the encouragement."

I wondered what exactly she meant by that.

"I mean," she began. "You doubt sometimes, being away from Percy, whether he still loves you or not. And of _course_ he loves you."

"If he loved me, wouldn't we be back together by now…" I muttered, very, very quietly. Inwardly, I was wondering if he was looking for me, then shooting the idea down as if it were the least likely thing in the world, not wanting to get my hopes up.

"ANNABETH!" Aphrodite nearly screamed at me. "He is looking for you _right. Now._" She emphasized it as if the words were two sentences.

My heart skipped a beat. And apparently skipped another beat. And another. Because soon I was hyperventilating and Aphrodite was asking if I was okay. "Better than okay," I told her in a higher pitched voice than I normally had. "I'm amazingly better than okay," I told her, emphasizing it more, repeating myself subconsciously, convincing her and myself at the same time.

She grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "Annabeth, you can't do this alone. I can't be with you the whole time, because they will need me once and a while on Olympus but… fact is, even though you can't see it yet, I knew you were going to be special when you were born. So I blessed you. And you will be beautiful, and many men will try distract you from Percy. But besides that, I gave you the capacity to love so amazingly that you couldn't so much as bat an eyelash at the other men who came to try and take you from whoever you chose. And you've chosen Percy.

"Athena interfered with my gift and made it backfire, throwing you into an unbelievable depression, being deprived of Percy. Athena doesn't understand because she swore to be maiden, so she never even _thought _of men that way. I hope to change her someday. But the fact is, I can't risk you not surviving to the time you find Percy. So… I hereby bless your quest on behalf of Zeus, Poseidon, and pretty much all the gods except Athena. Together we can do more than even the goddess of wisdom. I hate to put you against your mother, but-"

"You're not," I told her. "She did it to herself."

"I'm coming with you," she told me. I blinked, speechless, and before I knew what I was doing, I hugged her. She'd shown me more compassion than any goddess-except Artemis, of course-ever had. Compassion from two powerful goddesses bestowed on the same half blood was simply unheard of, but here I was, doubly blessed and on my way to find Percy. I had always sworn I would never befriend Aphrodite or any of her children-they had such a disregard for knowledge-but with help from two powerful goddesses, I knew I could do great things.

"You could without my help," Aphrodite told me. I realized I was still hugging her. I pulled away, and she looked at me, still holding my shoulders. "You're going to be so beautiful," she said quietly. I blushed and looked down.

"Let's go," I told her. I picked up my stuff and began to walk. She changed her clothes to olive green cargo shorts, and a pink fitted polo shirt, more low-cut than most polo's I'd seen. I laughed to myself and led the way.

"We'll meet up with them at Cleveland," she said.

"Them?" I asked. Of course, he couldn't be travelling alone. "Grover, Tyson, and Percy," she told me. "And, I wouldn't tell them, but they'll soon acquire another group member," she said with a wink. I knew she didn't mean us, but who could it be? I realized she wasn't going to tell me.

"Anyway, we'll be with Percy soon."

My heart skipped a beat again, and I wondered how, even though I wasn't with him, I was absolutely floating on a cloud. I was happier than I'd been in weeks…

And I had the ego-maniac goddess I'd always looked down upon to thank for it.

This would _definitely_ be a life-altering experience.


	11. Chapter 14

**14**

I jumped out of the top escape hatch of the bus, which of course was now on the side and spit me straight out onto the grass, confusing me for a moment. We'd landed in a marshy ditch of high grasses and ankle deep mud. Great. I climbed the top/side of the bus, to the side/top/whatever it was. The side that was facing the sky at the time.

What was on top of it surprised me. It looked like a demon rooster. A five and a half foot tall, fifteen foot long demon rooster with poison breath and a lizard's tale.

Great.

I knew what it was called… what was it… a cockatoo? No… cockapeet? Cockareet?

"A cockatrice!" I shouted. I pulled out Riptide and looked at the thing. I'd read about them once before, but they were supposed to be one or two feet tall and three feet long. This one was three times that! It breathed out and instead of fire like a dragon, its breath was a sickly green color. I held my breath-I knew if I breathed it in, it could knock me out for hours, and if it touched me I could die. It was called a pseudo-dragon-not exactly a dragon, but similar enough that it used to carry the name.

I didn't realize until it was too late that I was standing there instead of trying to kill the thing, and I had been spouting off all those facts to Grover and Tyson. They were staring at me like Annabeth had taken over my brain. Then I thought back on all the information I knew… she had taken over my brain. In more ways than I'd thought.

Then Grover asked something I hadn't considered. "How do you _kill it_?!" I stood there like an idiot with Riptide in my hand and racked my brain for more information.

I remembered if it looked at you it turned you into stone. That would have been good to remember earlier.

"Guys don't look at it! If you make eye contact it turns you to stone. And don't let it touch you."

I tapped the watch on my wrist and the intricate shield Tyson had carved for me expanded from it. I turned around and used the shield as a mirror, watching the cockatrice in reverse. It turned towards me, finally noticing my presence in the glow of such a large magical item.

I finally remembered how to kill it.

"There's two sure-fire ways to kill a cockatrice," I began, yelling to Grover and Tyson, who were cowering in the mud behind a bush. "And…?!" Grover yelled. I heard Tyson whimper something about wishing Annabeth was there to kill the bad chicken lizard.

_Sorry big guy,_ I thought, but I couldn't say anything. Talking about Annabeth was too painful. I couldn't get the words out.

"We need either a rooster-"Which we don't have!" Grover cut in. "Or a mirror," I finished, ignoring his outburst. "Grover, Tyson, go get the people from the bus to the other side of the road. I've got an idea!" I yelled to them. They didn't question me, and went to usher the passengers to the opposite shoulder of the highway.

I bent my arm back so it went around me, and the shield covered my whole back from the backs of my knees to the top of my head. I hoped it didn't breathe on me, and walked shuffled awkwardly to the front of the bus. Soon the thing started chasing after me. Running with the shield was too awkward, so I was forced to put it back in and run without protection.

I could hear the cockatrice putting dents in the bus. It felt like running to the other end of the bus was taking forever, when I remembered I was in ankle-deep mud, and the cockatrice had no obstacles. It must have been a clumsy rooster-thing, because I could hear it falling every once in a while and putting huge dents in the bus. Suddenly something green and scaly whipped just above my head-its tail. If that had touched me, poison in its skin would have killed me.

I heard it whipping back around and dove to the ground, face down in the mud. I felt it graze the back of my shirt. My shirt burned through the back-I could hear it sizzling. It ripped all the way down and fell off. Great. That was something that hadn't happened before.

I lifted my face out of the mud and pulled the raggedy remains of my shirt off. I was covered in mud, except my bare torso. I flipped my hair around so it was out of my eyes and wiped mud away from my mouth, eyes and nose, all the while running in slow motion through the muck as the demonic bird gained on me. I made the mistake of turning around and nearly locked eyes with the thing, but the sun was blinding me as it rose, so I ended up automatically shifting my gaze to its feet.

I ran five more mucky steps to the rear view mirror of the bus, grabbed it and, in a surge of strength, ripped it off the bus. I guess anything that stood between me and Annabeth made me kind of mad, providing extra strength.

Good.

I could hear the cockatrice gaining on me. I saw Grover and Tyson in the mirror, herding the others across the highway, stopping cars and occasionally glancing behind them. I saw the cockatrice's reflection. It was no more than five feet behind me. If it breathed, I was dead and it was over. But I needed a clear chance.

I whipped around and shoved the mirror out in front of me, fully extending my arms like making it farther away and flinching would make it less likely I would die. I heard a strange crackling noise, and a strangled rooster's crow. I held the mirror out in front of me and closed my eyes tightly, turning my face away like just its trying to look into my eyes could kill me. Soon the crackling stopped. The strangled crowing suddenly was cut off-a horrible sound. Usually I felt no guilt killing monsters. Usually they didn't sound like they were in pain… just mad. But this one had been in pain.

I finally decided it was safe and slowly brought the mirror down, not bending my arms but bringing them down to my sides. I turned my face up towards the bus, to see a stone cockatrice sculpture sitting on top of a totaled Greyhound bus.

I'd defeated the demonic lizard rooster of doom.

I was covered in mud, shirtless, and smelled like decaying monster, sewage, mud, and teenage-boy. Not a good combo.

I climbed up the small incline to the highway and saw Grover and Tyson on the other side with the passengers from the bus.

And a couple of police cars.

As soon as they saw me, they ran to me. Before they even got there, I started running back into the mud. I wasn't completely sure how we'd get away, but I knew the police were behind us.

I looked back and they were chasing us. Reporters were chasing them with cameras.

Styx.

That was when Grover tripped over his fake shoes.

He fell straight down into the mud, and Tyson fell over him. I turned and tried to hoist them up, but Tyson's weight had knocked Grover out. The police were ten feet away, reporters ten feet behind them, and Chiron was not going to be happy. I sent up a quick prayer to the gods that something would happen…

And suddenly we disappeared. We were just gone. We were underwater, and my dad sat in front of us in a magnificent sea-shell throne.

"Daddy!" Tyson yelled. "Hello, son," he said to Tyson. "Um, hi, Dad…" I said awkwardly, looking around. I finally realized we were in my Dad's underwater palace.

Hundreds of miles away from where I wanted to be.


	12. Chapter 15

**AN: Yeah, I'm doing an Author's Note. Amazing. Well, thanks to my Percy, I'm home sick today. (He got sick and then I got it. * sigh * All I did was hug him, I swear.) So I figured I may as well write. Sorry my writing's been so sporadic, but here I am. I'll let Annabeth take it from here. (:**

**15**

If I haven't said it enough, I couldn't believe I was hanging out with _Aphrodite_. Of all the gods and goddesses who could have come to help me, it was her.

I was having more fun than I'd had in this whole crappy stupid quest whatever thing.

Despite the fact that we were still trudging through the forest, stopping occasionally to eat-though now the food was good, as Aphrodite could just make food appear. The joys of being a goddess-we talked the whole time, about everything. I'd never opened up to anyone like this. I guess wise remarks can come from the most unlikely places.

I had gained a new appreciation for Aphrodite. Her children are still preps, sorry.

We talked mostly about Percy, and surprisingly it didn't make my heart hurt anymore than it did already. Well, at first it was painful, but I became accustomed to saying his name again without a jolt of pain like a dagger of ice piercing through my heart. The capacity to love that Aphrodite had given me was turning into a scary thing.

She gave me updates on where they were. She said something had happened, and they were now much farther away. I fell when she said this, not because I tripped, but because I was abruptly very weak and my legs just gave away from under me. I couldn't believe something had happened that could draw him farther away.

"It's okay, Annabeth. They're merely gaining another, powerful member of their team." I knew by now that I could trust her. She helped me up, and in that moment realized how horrible I looked.

"My gods, Annabeth, what have you been doing, wallowing in mud?" I looked down at myself and realized how this must look to her. I was wearing olive green cargo shorts, like her's. I had a white t-shirt-well it started out white, now it was brown-with silver Greek writing that said something like "I love Artemis." The Hunters had just handed Thalia and I whatever they had. Apparently Apollo had made a couple hundred of these in 1983, and they'd never really caught on. The girls were eager to dispose of them whenever an opportunity arose-they knew I was coming back, didn't they?

Anyway, I was caked with dirt from head to toe. My white sneakers were dirt colored. The left one was slit in the front, exposing my toes as my sock had also worn through. The right was getting there-just beginning to slit open. My hair stuck out in about twenty different directions. Its usual blond had been died brown with streaks of green-dirt and moss. One of my earrings was missing. The only thing still perfectly in-tact was my Camp Half-Blood necklace.

I was standing with the goddess of beauty and I looked like a wreck. Somehow, I didn't feel… uncomfortable. I knew most girls would have felt horrible. I guess I'd gotten so used to her that her radiance didn't make me feel lower than dirt like it did most girls. I was very comfortable with her now, actually.

"Hmm…" she said, clearly thinking. I suddenly realized she'd probably put me in some insanely low-cut top, and short shorts. Well, I was pretty much right.

She snapped her fingers, and I felt 100 times better. It was like she'd magically given me a shower. I was clean again! My hair was curly and light blond like it should be. It smelled like vanilla and strawberries. My skin smelled like flowers. I was wearing dark cut-off denim shorts, and a blue low-cut polo like her's, with thin silver stripes. I was slightly annoyed, but she was the only other being for miles, so I figured I could live with this. Besides, it was about a million degrees in this forest. These were clean clothes-I would live.

Realizing it was late, we made camp for the night. Well, she did, snapping her fingers. A pink tent appeared, with pink sleeping bags. A fire started. I sat on a log by the fire, looking at my clothes. The shirt was soft, the shorts amazingly comfortable for how tight they were. I laughed at that. Me, in short shorts. What was the world coming to?

I looked around, listened to the crickets. It seemed to suddenly go dark until it was black as pitch, save for a circle about five feet in diameter around the fire, which glowed yellow and red and orange, faintly pink at the edges. I laughed again-myself amidst all this pink. I was suddenly very thankful for the blue shirt-she knew me.

"Aphrodite?" I said quietly, careful to stare into the fire and not at her face. "Yes, Annabeth?" I stared in wonder at the fire, thinking, _I am camping with a goddess. The goddess of beauty. Why?_ "How long until we find Percy?"

She thought for a moment.

"A month at the most." I sighed. That was longer than Thalia and I had calculated.

"As I said," she began, reading my thoughts. "They were sidetracked. But now that Poseidon has joined them-"Poseidon?" I asked. A powerful member. A god. Poseidon-of course!

"Yes," she sighed. She hadn't meant to tell me. "It will be much faster than that," she said, staring into the fire, clearly deep in thought. I hadn't noticed, but she'd changed back into her Greek tunic.

"Hmm…" she was thinking hard again. "Ten days." My heart jumped. Ten more days. Ten days. Ten days. Ten days. Ten days. Ten days.

My mind was swimming with incoherent thoughts, now. I ate in silence, not even noticing what I was eating. Soon, thank you Aphrodite, I was asleep, dreaming of seeing Percy again, running to him, being wrapped in his arms. That was where I belonged-in Percy's arms. It was safe and comfortable and warm and where I would always want to be, forever and ever and ever.

I couldn't wait to return.


	13. Chapter 16 and 17

**16**

Well I was stuck, so it was no use being disappointed. I was in my dad's underwater palace, and that was cool. The fact that it was hundreds of miles away from Annabeth, however, was NOT cool. It was like my body could feel that she was that far. I felt weaker. Yet I knew if anything stood in my way, clearly working against me getting to Annabeth, I could take it down in a heartbeat. Mostly because every heartbeat longed for her.

Then I remembered I was with a god.

"Dad, it's great to see you," I said, more out of politeness than sincerity. Though it really was nice to see him-anytime I got to see him was nice, since I'd grown up without him-now was not the time for a family reunion.

"Good to see you too, son. But I'm not a pretty teenage girl, am I? Let's get you to Cleveland! However, though you snuck out of camp, this is technically a quest. I can't directly interfere, since you're my son… well, I can bend the rules, but not much. I have to send you back within 100 miles of where you came from. So off to Harrisburg you go!"

He snapped his fingers and we were gone. I'd never get used to that.

We found ourselves in front of a big red brick building with steeples high to the sky and green-gray sloped roofs. Clearly a church. A sign read "St. James Episcopal Church." Why my dad chose to drop us there, I don't know. But there were no monsters in sight, so it worked for me. We started walking up the street. The church took up a half a block.

"We're 331.94 miles away from Cleveland," I told Grover and Tyson. They looked at me like I was a freak. "I still have my bearings from being in the ocean," I told them. They just kind of nodded. I guess we do get used to this stuff.

I looked around at all the people we were walking by and realized they were staring. Aw crap.

"Guys…" I muttered. "Yeah?" they both said. "I'm not wearing a shirt, and I smell like monster guts."

"Oh…" Grover said. Tyson didn't seem to think that that was all that weird. Then again, however weird he looked, it was obscured by the Mist.

Problem was we had no money, so I was basically stuck shirtless and gross. Dad could've supplied some clothes.

"Okay, we need to regroup," I said, realizing we were walking aimlessly in a general westerly direction. We found a park, turned and sat in the grass under a big tree.

"Okay, so we need to get to Cleveland."

Silence.

"Any ideas?"

Silence.

"Well, styx. We need a way to Cleveland!"

Silence.

That was getting really annoying.

Finally, Tyson spoke up. "Pretty ponies!" he said. Well, that didn't really help…

He pointed to the sky, and automatically Grover and I looked up.

Pegasus. YES!

"Blackjack!" I screamed to my sleek black pegasus friend.

_Hey, boss._

We were saved. I hopped onto Blackjack and a couple other pegasi took Grover and Tyson. (The one who took Tyson was the biggest pegasus I've ever seen.)

We were flying off into the sunset and suddenly I felt like we were in a movie.

**17**

Aphrodite and I hiked for a while the next morning before we got sick of hiking and hit a town. La Porte, Indiana. It suddenly hit me that things were going faster than humanly possible with Aphrodite tagging along. Awesome.

"Nine more days, Annabeth," Aphrodite told me. My heart jumped, and she giggled. I blushed. "Can you…-"Yes, Annabeth. I know what you're feeling." She giggled again. Great. My face was so red.

We'd been walking up streets around the country and were just nearing the town. It was odd to be near a city again that actually showed up on maps. At least I looked normal now, and I didn't smell like Polyphemus and dirt.

"Alright, this is way too slow," Aphrodite said. She'd been getting a bit antsy -- trying to travel at human speed was getting tedious for her, I could tell.

"Let's go," she said. I looked up at her radiant face and wondered what she was talking about. Then she whipped out a hot pink iPhone. "Ares?" she said immediately, before even seeming to dial. She hung up in seconds, and simultaneously a blood red chariot was right in front of us. "Ares, at your service."

I knew I should feel like punching something, but Aphrodite was keeping me calm so Ares couldn't have an effect on me. I wouldn't have hopped into the chariot if it weren't for Aphrodite pushing me in and telling me to hold on.

The chariot was blood red with black trim and detailing-a boar's head on the front and images of wars along the sides. Ares' signature skeletal horses were in front, pulling the chariot up into the sky. We flew over La Porte and soon picked up speed. "How fast are we going?" I yelled over the roar of the wind as we ripped through a cloud. "Hundred miles an hour, give or take a few," Ares hollered back.

Wow.

I realized my eyes were clenched shut. I tried to pry them open and my eyelids just wouldn't open. Finally the chariot jerked to a halt, and my eyes snapped open. I'd been holding my breath and I gasped for air. I flew back and hit the ground, which was surprisingly close-we'd landed. I fell asleep immediately-not knocked out, sleeping. Ares had put me to sleep. I guessed I wasn't allowed to know something about that chariot…

Or Ares could get in trouble for helping me, and they wanted me to remain innocent.

"We're in Bowling Green, Ohio. 125.26 miles to Cleveland," Aphrodite told me when I woke up. "And you're right. You need to remain innocent."

Thank you, Aphrodite. Thank you.

**AN: Ok so I went to check on the votes on my poll. Only two people have voted **** so if you are reading this, please go to my profile, and vote on my poll! I want to know if you want me to do author's notes! :) 90 of you read this chapter in the first day, and I usually have about a hundred people read per chapter. So if all of you voted… well, I'll feel like it's fair and all my fans get represented. (I have fans! So cool!) So VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE! Thanks for reading :)**


	14. Chapter 18

**AN: If you love me at all…. VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE! :) Thank you :) Still only seven people have voted. And ya'll ain't gonna get no author's notes if at least thirteen more of you vote! I want TWENTY of you. So if you feel strongly about this, feel free to tell me. :)**

**18**

Pegasai are amazing. We were travelling faster than I'd ever seen them travel.

Okay, it helps that I fell asleep. The fact that I was unconscious also probably helped with the fact that, due to my shirtless-ness, I should have been _freezing_.

Blackjack and his friends carried us all the way to New Castle, Pennsylvania, 102.01 driving miles away from Cleveland. So close… I could feel it.

Thanks, Dad.

When I woke up we were in a park again, sitting under a tree again, but I could feel that we had changed locations.

I looked around, saw Tyson and Grover wide awake around me with no sign of the pegusai, and rested against the tree more calmly. It scraped my back, but I'd live. I'd had worse.

Then, thinking about New Castle, Pennsylvania, I went into Annabeth-mode again.

"New Castle was chartered as a city in 1869. The land in Pennsylvania had been sectioned off for Revolutionary War Vets, but William Lee Baxter III discovered that 50 acres had not been sectioned off and claimed the land for himself. In 1849, Lawrence County was created, named after the U.S. Navy Captain James Lawrence. When New Castle was chartered, it had a population of only 6,000 people."

If I could have stared at myself, I would have.

Grover walked over to me and jokingly put his hand on my forehead, as if looking for a temperature. "Dude, you ok? I think you've been hanging out with Annabeth too long and hanging on to every word she says. Or you've gone insane from Annabeth deprivation, and every word she ever said is suddenly coming back to you."

I laughed. "I have no idea, ok? It just keeps happening. I've known stuff about every town we've been to! I can't figure it out."

"You're Annabeth's boyfriend, that's what. It's contagious. She probably transferred the disease of being a know-it-all through making out with you or something," Grover said, already backing away with his hands up in the universal "I surrender" position. I was getting up and chasing him faster than he could even back away. We ran all over the park, laughing. I threw sticks at him and Tyson watched us and was soon rolling on the ground laughing at our stupidity. But I mean, how un-Grover-like was that?!

But Grover isn't much of an athlete, and soon I had him on the ground in a headlock. "Dude, you're going to rupture my spine or something, if that's possible. Let me go!" Grover yelled into the dirt as I pinned him.

"Only if you scream 'I'm in love with Juniper and she's the best kisser on the planet!' at the top of your lungs."

Grover sighed.

"I'M IN LOVE WITH JUNIPER AND SHE'S THE BEST KISSER ON THE PLANET!!!!!"

"Oh really?" said the tree I'd been leaning against, and a girl morphed out of it.

"Juniper!" Grover ran and hugged her, then turned beet red. "Hi…" he muttered sheepishly.

She giggled and kissed him. He blushed harder.

I missed Annabeth's giggle. It was so cute. And the way her blond hair curled and framed her perfectly shaped face… her hair was so soft… and it always smelled amazing, like whatever shampoo she used, but so utterly attractive on her that it was intoxicating. And her perfume was addictive… and those incredible gray eyes…

"PERCY!!" Grover screamed, slapping me in the face. I tumbled backward and Juniper giggled, this time at me. "You were thinking about Annabeth," Juniper said. Could nymphs read minds?

"Emotions, Percy. Just like satyrs," Grover said. I guess sometimes reading emotions is essentially reading minds.

"Well that and his eyes were practically glazing over," Juniper said with another giggle.

I blushed as red as Grover and flipped my hair out of my eyes. It was getting kind of long-not in my eyes too bad, but about half an inch below my eyebrows, enough that my hair barely got in the way. My black hair grows too fast, and I knew it was really uneven right now. I didn't care, exactly, it's just annoying when I'm trying to kill something and my hair's getting in my eyes.

Annabeth usually cuts it for me so that it's not a problem, but she likes it kind of long, so she just trims it once in a while. I don't care how I look, I just care what she thinks, so I leave her in charge and it all works out. I know she wouldn't really care, but she likes it. And I think we all know by now that I'll give her whatever she wants…

"Percy!" Juniper yelled in my ear. "Percy, you've got it bad," she said and giggled again. Did nymphs ever stop giggling?! "No," Grover said, walking over to Juniper and putting his arm around her waist. Stupid empathy link. "It's ok Juniper, your giggles are cute," Grover whispered in her ear so he thought I couldn't hear. She giggled again.

I sighed. I missed that. But I wasn't going to look like an idiot and space out again, so I pushed the thoughts away.

Annabeth's giggle was cuter.


	15. Chapter 19

**19**

It didn't matter how I'd gotten here, it just mattered that I was approximately 250 miles away from Percy and that was closer than I'd been in weeks. The longest weeks of my life. It had been over a week right…? I didn't even know anymore. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered yet. Time was irrelevant until I was once again with Percy.

Time in Bowling Green was a blur as we searched for a train to Cleveland, or something. Anything…

Upon careful inspection of bus routes, train routes, maps, locals, and hot dog stands, we found that there are no bus routes from Cleveland to Bowling Green. Duh. However there was a bus from Bowling Green up to Toledo, where we could get a train to Cleveland. Absolute insanity.

I miss New York.

So we took a bus to Toledo, and just kind of stared out the windows in silence as people stared at us, mostly men. I realized this must be what it's like to wear short shorts. It was awkward, and I craved a pair of jeans. But it was 90 million degrees and that would not be fun.

Still.

I stared out the windows and ignored the teenage boy sitting across from me, practically drooling. Aphrodite seemed oblivious to them. Used to it, I guess. As I stared dejectedly out the window, rain suddenly started coming down. Was that normal? I didn't care. Soon it was a full blown thunder storm, and I was no longer the most interesting thing to look at, and hungry eyes turned to the gray-black clouds outside. I stared out at the wet and hoped that meant cold, and a sudden wardrobe change…

When lightning struck the aisle of the bus _right next to me_. Oh, gods.

"Annabeth!" Aphrodite screamed as the bus burst into flame. She reached for my arm, grabbing it, and before I had a chance to hold on she'd broken the window and jumped out and we had vanished. Away from wherever that bus had been. We were at the train station—why didn't she just zap us to Cleveland already?—and the storm blazed on. I imagined the innocent people in that flaming bus… had I just indirectly killed someone?

Oh, gods.

A tear slid down my cheek and I practically shoved it away. I could NOT afford to cry when Zeus was attacking me.

Or not me…

Aphrodite. Styx.

"Annabeth, it's me. It's all my fault. Zeus might kill me, but he can't do anything to you. Although gods are forbidden from helping heroes, heroes or forbidden from dismissing gods. You couldn't have gotten rid of me if you'd wanted to. And Zeus really is on your side. But rules are rules, and I have to go. I know you can do this yourself. Here's money for the plane ticket," she said, making a large Luis Vuitton suitcase appear and shoving money into my hand. Wind and rain swirled around us. Lightning struck a few miles out into the nothingness on the other side of the station, the side that wasn't the city but just a plane of nothing. It practically looked like a tornado was coming. Wind blew everywhere, rain was coming down in a sheet, and Aphrodite's glistening blond hair was soaked and matted and blowing around her face. She was in her toga again and it blew in the wind like a flag. Suddenly my legs were frozen. Stupid fabric-less shorts.

"The suitcase has a couple sets of clothes, some drachmas, more money, and anything you left at the hunter's camp." The suitcase was a bit smaller than average-maybe one and a half by two and a half feet, and three quarters of a foot deep. Fairly sized. Enough that it looked like I was going on a trip.

"Now go, the train leaves in twenty minutes."

I didn't even have to think, but turned and ran for the inside of the station, feeling my back heat and seeing the light reflect off the windows from Aphrodite showing her true form and going back to Olympus. The wind and the rain did not let up like I'd expected, and lightning struck again, but farther off.

I bought my ticket, and buy the time the transaction was over and I was in the station it was ten minutes to the time the train would leave. I needed to board it already. I ran with my suitcase and when I said it was my only luggage they were okay with me keeping it with me-I guess not a lot of people were on this train and they didn't think it would be a problem. So I brought my Luis Vuitton suitcase-which got some stares-onto the train car I was directed to and sat down, opening the suitcase. I found a blanket, thank the gods, and covered my freezing legs, which had gotten more stares than the suitcase. I also found a sweater-Hollister. Really, Aphrodite? Oh whatever. It was warm. I pulled it over my head and waited out the storm in a train full of people I didn't know.

Huddled in that sweater, with my fleece blanket and Luis Vuitton suitcase, it was hard to believe I was on the adventure of my life and had more problems than anyone on this train, guaranteed. I looked around and realized everyone was staring at me, trying to disguise it. I was a novelty, I realized. A teenage girl, typical California blond hair and slightly tanned skin, but with startling gray eyes, wearing short shorts and a Hollister sweater and toting a Luis Vuitton suitcase. All I was missing was a Juicy Couture purse and a chihuahua. But I was a novelty on this train, more than they knew.

The only other people in the car were a single mom in her late 20's with a toddler sleeping in her arms, a mid-40's man with a Bluetooth that seemed glued to his ear and a business suit that had been ironed to death, and a slightly depressed looking teenage girl with straight, cropped black hair, black skinny jeans and a death metal t-shirt.

And a gleaming silver bow and arrow.

Thalia. Thalia Thalia Thalia oh my gods THALIA!

She had her iPod turned up so loud that I could hear across the car, and I knew she didn't know I existed. Her eyes were closed, revealing deep purple eye shadow and thick black eyeliner. I lifted the blanket off my legs, carefully folding it and setting it on my seat, then standing and walking across the car. When I was five feet away she looked up from the iPod and nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Annabeth?" she asked. I guessed I didn't look like me, what with the short shorts and all…

"Yeah, it's me," I began, but she had to take her headphones off. She had the big (which seem to be becoming a style) with silver lightning bolts painted on the sides. Her bright blue eyes pierced into my soul, like she didn't believe I was me. Then I saw it.

A scar, from just below her eye to the bottom of her jaw, on the left side of her face.

Oh, my gods.

"Luke."

Suddenly "Thalia" was gone and Luke sat in her place. The mortals weren't even watching, all staring out windows. Though I thought the baby saw.

"Yes. Hello, Annabeth."

The train and my heart stopped.


	16. Chapter 20

**AN: Hola, people! Well I hope you like this chapter. I had almost NO homework tonight, so I figured why not? I wish I could post more throughout the week to give you guys something to procrastinate with. I love procrastinating. Procrastinators unite!!!!.... tomorrow. Haha :) Anyway, here you go. Happy Tuesday! :)**

**20**

In the park with Grover, Juniper, and Tyson felt almost normal. Almost everyone was here, and almost perfectly ok. The weather was almost perfect and the world seemed almost to stand still.

Almost. Without Annabeth, nothing is complete.

Grover and Juniper were laying down on the grass watching clouds. She had her head on his chest and he held her hand. _If Annabeth were here, that would be us,_ I thought, knowing it was true. I was sure Grover and Juniper could feel the jealously radiating off of me. Any mortal could have, but they were kind of distracted.

Tyson sat at the bottom of a tree and tinkered with some metal and tools. It was like materials just found him.

And I sat there. Leaning against a tree. Empty handed, alone, and silent. How un-Percy-ish does that sound? Exactly.

I soon realized that Juniper had just appeared randomly.

"Juniper?" I called, and she sat up slowly, laughing and smiling and radiant in the sun. She really was beautiful. Probably the second most beautiful young woman I knew. Annabeth will always come first.

She hopped to her feet and practically skipped over to me, coming to a jumping stop next to me and sitting with her legs crossed. She was so bouncy and happy when Grover was around, but so reserved and quiet at camp. No one knew the real her except us.

"What's up?" she asked, playing with the bright green blades of grass at her feet. Her forest green eyes sparkled.

"Well, I was wondering… how in Hades did you get here?!" I questioned. She let out a laugh louder than any noise I'd ever heard her make. "Percy, I have an empathy link with one of the trees here," she began. I had to cut in though: "Dryads can have empathy links?" "Yes, Percy, dryads can have empathy links. So she… 'called' the second that you guys showed up and told me she knew where you were. I had no idea where Grover had ended up, and had been getting worried, and of course she knew. Her name is Rose," she finished, gesturing towards the tree I was leaning against. I immediately jumped away and apologized, and suddenly there wasn't a tree, there was a beautiful dryad. I now had two dryads tied as the second most beautiful young women I knew.

She had pale skin and blond curly hair, with darker highlights all over. She had pale blue eye shadow-matching the pale blue flowers growing around her tree. She wore a pale pink flowing top and light blue flair jeans, with white flip flops. Her necklace and earrings were matching silver peace signs. Her shirt seemed to have faint white flower patterns at the bottom, where the pink was slightly brighter, but it all faded into white at the top with spaghetti straps. She had a thin silver bracelet that glowed silver. But she faintly glowed green and had a slightly forest green tint to her skin-not so that she looked sick, but just… nature-y. She was petite, delicate, thin, lithe… she belonged in a dance studio, not here. But I know enough dryads to know she was probably significantly stronger than she looked.

She came and sat with Juniper and I, and soon Grover was there too, with his arm around Juniper. It was like he couldn't be near her without touching her.

I'd assumed Tyson was just sitting under the tree, and Rose was just naturally quiet. But when I turned to check on Tyson, he was staring at our circle with his jaw dropped open, his tools fallen from his hands and his eyes like saucers.

He was staring at Rose.

I looked at Rose to see her reaction, and she would look up at the sky or another tree, at Juniper and Grover, at the grass, but always flick her gaze back to Tyson.

Oh, my gods.

"Tyson!" I yelled. He snapped out of his trance and Rose blushed pale green. "Get over here big guy," I told him, and he leapt at the invitation, scooping up all his tools in one swoop and bounding over to us. I moved over so I was between Grover and Tyson in the circle, and Tyson could be next to Rose. Rose blushed greener and Tyson stumbled a bit as he sat down. Soon Rose was leaning slightly towards him—I was being observant; impressive, right?—and playing with her hair. Tyson blushed and looked down, getting shy. Juniper and Grover were completely oblivious.

I just stared. Tyson… and a girl? I had never even thought of this. I mean… it's Tyson! But, you might be surprised to learn this, he had matured a lot since going down to Dad's palace. He was more like an adult now, not a five year old. He was finally probably at the maturity level of… maybe Nico? But dryads are nice and patient and a dryad would probably be the best girlfriend for him…

I laughed at myself making all these assumptions. Tyson didn't… he was to illiterate to ask her out. She was… rooted to this spot. It just couldn't…

"Percy, we're going with you," Juniper stated. Not a question, not an idea, not clarifying who "we" was.

"Ok then," I said. Rose smiled at me, then turned back to Tyson. I guess she liked the whole greasy, mechanic-guy thing. Whatever. I personally still found Tyson gross, though his hygiene had improved with his maturity level and literacy rate… they were an interesting pair, but it could work.

"Well you guys can't really come with us if we don't get out of here and do something," I began. I was getting sick of just sitting here. I didn't know if it was ADHD or OAD (Obsessive Annabeth Disorder) but I was getting jittery and it was killing me. "Where to now, and how?"

"Well I know the area," Rose said. Her voice was light and airy and sounded kind of hippy-ish, if you know what I mean. "Where do we need to get to? Cleveland, right?" Rose asked. She'd obviously been listening in on our conversations the night before. Or we talked in our sleep. I couldn't remember which.

"Yes. As fast as possible."

"Alright…" she began again, trailing off as she thought.

"We could take a Greyhound bus-" she said.

"Well, we had a bad experience with a Greyhound in the beginning of this quest. Maybe not the best idea," Grover cut in.

"Or a train." We all stopped. A train might have been smart from the beginning. Oh well.

"A train is perfect!" Tyson exclaimed. Rose giggled.

Wow.

"There's an Amtrak every hour," Rose continued. "They board half an hour before departure, but you're supposed to be there fifteen minutes before that."

Tyson checked a watch. "It is three o' clock," he told us very proudly. Rose flipped her hair and hopped to her feet-bouncy like Juniper-and started sprinting away, calling over her shoulder "Come on!" So she was a bit unrealistic sometimes, like with how quickly we could grab things and run, but that was okay. It's not like Tyson's a realist.

So we ran and caught an Amtrak with no drama. I can't say much more than that. Everything seemed perfect-except the whole situation, of course. Weird, right?

The train ride was like the Greyhound-boring. I looked out the window at nothing. Grover and Juniper sat and giggled and chatted and soon Juniper fell asleep on Grover's shoulder. They were to my right, Grover next to me and Juniper with him. Tyson was on my left, with Rose next to him, and they had been talking and just trying to get to know each other. Tyson blushed and Rose giggled and they seemed meant for each other. Soon they'd both fallen asleep and, although it was not intentional, Rose's head ended up on Tyson's arm. Her head couldn't reach his shoulder, but she had laid down on her seat and the one next to her and ended up with Tyson's arm as a pillow. Everything was great.

I sat there awake for a while and just stared blankly and tried not to think or sleep. It would be less than an hour to Cleveland. I listened to the click clack of the train on the tracks, the horn whenever it blew, the wind blowing by as the train cut through it like Kronos's scythe…

Then I fell asleep and had one of _those_ dreams.

I was on a train a bit older than this one. It wasn't an Amtrak-more old fashioned. I was in an old train car sitting on a red seat next to someone. When I turned, I couldn't see the person's face, but I saw Annabeth's. She was walking across the car to talk to them… she obviously thought she knew the person, but their hood hid them from me. They looked up as Annabeth came a couple feet away from them.

Annabeth stopped to make sure it was who she thought it was, and her face lit up. I thought she formed the word "Thalia!" and I thought _Thank the gods, Annabeth's not alone anymore. _But suddenly her expression changed. The person next to me seemed to change shape, and Annabeth's expression changed at the same time. Her face fell dark and ashen and she looked afraid and angry and resentful and surprised… and sad.

Whoever this was I was going to kill them. Anger boiled up as Annabeth backed away in fear. And she formed the word I feared the most.

"Luke."

It was like watching a silent movie when the bomb drops. And suddenly I was out of the dream. I was awake again, and nothing had changed. Everyone was still asleep. I had just woken up of my own accord, more worried than ever and with no one to talk to. I looked out the window and sent up a quick prayer to the gods, then pretended Annabeth could hear me.

_Annabeth… you know I love you. I won't let him hurt you. Hang on. Please. I'm coming._

_I miss you. I love you. Never forget that. And please, please, please stay as strong as you've always been. I know you could take Luke down with one hand behind your back. Do whatever it takes. But don't get hurt. Please._

_I love you._


	17. Chapters 21, 22, and 23

**21**

I stared for a lot longer than I thought he would let me live. I stared at the scar, the way his blond hair fell over his face, his cold eyes. His scar glistened and suddenly it struck me as a tear, trickling down his face, bright white in the overhead light. I had an urge to wipe it off his face, but I knew it would be a futile attempt. I found myself feeling sorry for him again…

_No. Stop it._ I thought. What could I do? We remained still and silent and staring. That's when he decided to be a freak.

He turned and jumped out the window in a swifter movement than I can even describe; one second he was there, the next I was standing in a pile of broken glass with wind whipping around me from the shattered window, the little family across the car screaming, the businessman oblivious on his Bluetooth, and goose bumps forming on my arms and legs from cold. Aphrodite, you couldn't have given me some pants?

I understood as soon as the Bluetooth man morphed into a Laistrygonian giant. This was all a set up. The whole train. But Aphrodite didn't know, of course. I had no doubt that this was out of her control.

Athena. Would she be so low as to bring Luke into this? Was he really Luke? Would she rather I was with Luke on Kronos' side, instead of with Percy on the Olympian's side? Was I going insane?

The last question was the only one I could answer.

I looked out the window and seriously considered just jumping. There was a chance I would make the fall if the train didn't suck me under. Where had Luke gone? The Laistrygonian was coming up behind me. The little boy was screaming and crying. His mother was scared out of her mind. I wondered what they saw…

Suddenly the train lurched to a stop and I fell to the ground. _It's over,_ I thought. _It's over_. And I found some shred of relief in the fact that finally it was out of my hands, I didn't have to worry, I was dead and gone and life was over…

When I realized I was still breathing. Styx.

Of course I still wanted to find Percy. But still, having it all ended would have been okay… had I given up hope?

No. Annabeth Chase does not give up hope.

This brought to my attention the shard of glass in my hand. Ow. Ow ow ow ow OW! Not to self: think before you land. I was sitting in a pool of glass on the floor of a broken train car, wind threatening to pull me down, my hand burning, legs freezing, hair whipping around my face and rain tearing into the car and sun still streaming through from behind gray clouds. One tear slid down my cheek. But I wasn't giving up. That Laistrygonian was behind me and I was going to have to—

_**CRASH!**_

"_**GAHHH!!!!**_" I heard from behind me, a sort of battle cry.

From a voice I couldn't help but recognize immediately, yet tell myself I was hallucinating, yet have a small heart attack and almost faint and let the tears come crashing down and I had to sob for there was no way this was happening and I knew I must be dead. But I had to know, had to check. I whipped my head around, tears streaking my face and wind making it sting, blowing the thin salty tears into my mouth. I knew it couldn't be…

But it was.

"PERCY!"

**22**

The moment when I crashed through the top of that train car was the most instrumental moment of my life. I felt like it mapped out the way I would spend the rest of my life, the decisions I would make, how I would make them, and what I was living for. But it definitely told me something about myself.

I loved Annabeth.

I mean, I always knew that. But I never knew the magnitude of it until that moment, when I was flying on a pegasus with the best friends in the world at unimaginable speeds, going to the ends of the earth to find my best friend, girlfriend, favorite partner in combat and true love. Tyson threw a bomb at the train, blowing the top off at exactly the right moment to allow us to crash through, scare the Laistrygonian out of his mind enough to surprise him, and make a really cool entrance.

I yelled like only a teenage boy can yell-as low and throaty as I could, but with a little bit of a voice crack in the middle. Only me, I swear…

I was going to kill that giant, and Luke, but when we crashed through the metal shrapnel flying out around us, I saw no evil son of Hermes. Only a Laistrygonian in ripped business pants, stomping on a broken Bluetooth, a single mom with a young son, and the most beautiful woman in the world crying on a floor covered in broken glass.

With that glass went my heart.

The rage boiled up as only my anger can, and that Laistrygonian didn't stand a chance. My friends were smart and stood back while I took out everything I had on that monster. He was about 9 feet tall and pure muscle-nothing I couldn't handle. I stabbed and punched and kicked like there was no tomorrow. I stabbed him in the foot and while he was tending to that, conked him on the head with the butt of my sword. I kicked him in the side, punched him in the gut, pulled a set of chairs right off of the train and threw them at his stomach. I summoned every bit of water in that rain and blew it in his face, throwing him back at the side of the train car, leaving a dent. He was knocked out. I jumped on his stomach, kicked him in the chin for good measure, and stabbed him in the heart, landing in a crouched position with my sword point at the floor keeping me balance, surrounded by the telltale dust of a fallen monster.

Beams of sun landed on me and I felt like I had won the biggest battle I'd ever fought. And I realized I had. A much more epic version of a battle many teenagers fight. The battle to stay with someone you know you love, when everyone else thinks you're crazy and that special someone's parents hate you. Or parent, whatever. Goddess. Same thing.

I was on the ground in that crouch panting, covered in sweat, still shirtless, my long unruly hair sticking to my forehead as I finally looked up from the dust all around me and saw her. Annabeth Chase, her beautiful blond curls framing her face, her gray eyes piercing into mine like no one else's could, her tear stained face breaking my heart at the same time that it mended it and fixed everything and put everything together again.

I couldn't take it anymore. I threw my sword out the train (knowing it would come back) and ran to her. The wind was whipping around us, the rain was pouring, the train car was teetering on the edge of caving in with no sides left. Sun beamed down on us in rays making the rain glitter.

And finally Annabeth was in my arms again. She stood just before I met her and I hugged her with on hand around her race and the other pulling her head into my chest with my arm braced around her back so that she couldn't have left if she wanted to. The hand on her waist moved up her back to comfort her as she cried in my arms, the way it should have been all along.

When I let her head move again she looked up at me, tears streaking her face and glistening in the sun with her stunning eyes, and a smile graced her beautiful face. A smile that only Annabeth could have-a smile of confidence, defiance, and success so strong I had never seen her smile this way before.

And suddenly she'd jumped up to reach my face, braced her hands on the back of my head and neck to pull me to her and kissed me. Finally I felt like everything was okay again. All was right with the world. Annabeth was in my arms again…

**23**

I couldn't even think, I was so happy. Finally, we'd done it. No one was going to tear me away from Percy now. I wouldn't let that happen again. Ever. Not in a million millennia. We'd won the fight of our lives-the fight for each other.

I finally stopped kissing him and pulled away to look at his face. I let my hands drift down his arms and chest, feeling the muscle and remembering him. I looked up at his face, his seaweed green eyes as deep and warm as ever, black hair sticking to his forehead from sweat and rain. I reached up and messed up his hair. He laughed my favorite laugh, a light and playful tone no one could duplicate, and teasingly picked me up and kissed me again.

I pulled away again and he held me in his arms like he was carrying me out the doors after our wedding.

"I love you, did you know that?" I teasingly told him.

"Yeah, I might have guessed. But I love you more."

"I doubt that," I retorted and kissed him one more short time before he gently put me down, never taking his arm away from my waist or shoulders. Thank the gods for Percy. I hadn't felt so safe in months until his arms were around me again.

We looked back at our friends. Grover had his arm around Juniper, and both smiled at us.

Tyson had his arm around… who the heck…

"Who the heck is she?!" I asked a bit inconsiderately, motioning to the pretty dryad next to Tyson.

"That's Rose, Tyson's girlfriend," Juniper informed me.

I knew the look on my face was priceless and everyone laughed, even the new dryad.

"Ready, boss?" Blackjack called down from where he'd been circling the sky.

"Definitely," said Percy.

"Umm, Percy, wait just a minute," I told him. He looked confused and I ignored it.

I walked over to the single mom and her child.

"I'm so sorry you had to see all that. It's a bit complicated. Please don't call the police… but I'm so, so sorry your son—"It's fine," she cut in.

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is, Annabeth." Suddenly the single mom and her child were gone, and there sat my mom with an owl perched on her shoulder.

"Percy Jackson," she addressed him. "Come here."

"Yes?" he asked, walking up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist so she couldn't take me away again.

"Well done."


	18. NOT A CHAPTER Author's Note of Assurance

**NOT A REAL STORY!!!!!!!**** This is just a note to you guys because you never check my profile so I don't want to put anything important up there.**

**I love how you all told me to keep writing!! :) And how you all think my story is over…**

**No. Way.**

**I will be writing a short epilogue… and I already know the plot of the sequel. :)**

**I hope that's a good thing and I'm not just annoying. Thank you so, so, SO much for reading. It is so cool to see people loving what I'm writing. My entertainment is yours to share.**

**And actually it was much shorter than I expected. I thought I would write a few more chapters, but you of all the people on this earth should know that stories can take on minds of their own. :P And I can't resist the sequel which is brewing in my brain…**

**Thank you, guys, so much. :) Author out.**

**~Max :)**


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

If any moment in this whole insane adventure had been more tense than that, I don't know when it was. My heart stopped for a good minute when my mom told Percy he'd done well. I never would have seen that coming. I had never felt so vulnerable as in that moment when I spun around and wrapped my arms around Percy in a hug that left him nearly crushing my ribs, holding me close in hopes that I couldn't disappear again.

We finally returned to Camp, and everyone was happy to see us. Mr. D got my name right for the first time, EVER. However Percy's name suddenly became Perry. At least he got one of us right.

It was the last day of summer when Percy, Tyson, Rose, Grover, Juniper and I all went down to the beach. Fireworks were going off and we all ran around the beach, laughing and chasing each other and tripping in the ocean like idiots. When we got tired we laid down on towels on the beach, wrapped blankets around our shoulders and looked out at the sky and sea and the colors streaming down on us, basking our faces in bright bursts of fluorescence.

I was cuddled into Percy's chest. He'd spread his legs out so that I could sit in front of him and he could wrap his arms around my waist and I could stay warm-running through the ocean might not have been the best idea. It may have been August, but it wasn't THAT warm at night in Atlantic waters.

Staring out at the ocean together finally gave us a flashback. Just as I thought of it, he must have too. He swept my hair around to one side of my head and leaned down to the exposed side to whisper in my ear.

"I love you, Wise Girl."

"I love you too, Seaweed Brain," I said with a grin. I turned around and kissed him. Finally we were all okay again… finally everything was right.

_**Percy's Point of View**_

I couldn't even describe that moment, when I managed to get the words out and no one jumped out, no one attacked us, no one was threatening to kill us, it was just us and our friends and the ocean and the beach and nothing to hold us back.

Among the wind and waves and fireworks I thought I heard something rustling in the bushes, but upon turning around the coast seemed clear, so I turned back to Annabeth who pulled the blanket tighter around her. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her closer to keep her warm.

Suddenly, a black shape leapt over us and landed right in front of us in an animal-like stance. Well, nothing's perfect in the world of half-bloods…

But a million things would have been better than this.

Annabeth pulled the blanket up and moved in closer to me, if that was even possible.

"Percy," she whispered in alarm. The dark shape loomed over us, obscuring the fireworks and the beautiful ocean beyond. Annabeth whimpered. _Whimpered_. I couldn't stand it. Who did this guy think he was? I planned out a million ways to incapacitate him quickly, so that he wouldn't even feel a thing, when his voice, thick with who-knew-what, raspy as always and deep like an older man than he was, cut through the pervious joy like a sword through a fury, sending the feelings dissipating in a cloud of dust.

"Well now, Perseus Jackson. Thought you got rid of me so easily?" he said with a cackle I knew too well. "Think again, mermaid boy."

In a flash of movement I gently threw Annabeth out of the way and jumped up in front of her, swinging out Riptide. Why is my work never done?

I took the first swipe and knew that the fight of my life was not over. Luke Castellan was back, and he had always wanted more than just the victory of owning Olympus. He also wanted my girlfriend.

"Dream on."


	20. NOT A CHAPTER: AN of Assurance 2

I **HAVE A QUESTION!!**

**If I jump into the future with Percy and Annabeth to the point where they are 22, is anyone going to kill me? Does that sound cool? Completely horrible? Mind telling me?**

**I already wrote a full chapter and have it planned out… but only if that's cool. If not, speak now or forever hold your peace. I want at least ten responses before I will post anything of the next story, so that I have a good idea of whether I should change it so that they are younger or my older PJatO thing is ok. Please review-the release date of my sequel is in your hands.**

**~Max**


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